


Finding Family

by Miss_Eve_Meah



Category: Young Justice
Genre: Birdflash - Freeform, F/M, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Love, M/M, SuperBat, Superfamily, Supermartian, batfamily
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-23
Updated: 2015-04-09
Packaged: 2018-01-26 05:02:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1675685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Eve_Meah/pseuds/Miss_Eve_Meah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Superman and Batman are a couple. They adopted Robin and now they want to take in Superboy. These are the exploits of their unconventional superbat family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. SuperBats gets more kids

**Author's Note:**

> First fanfiction on this site. I wrote it because I always wanted to read it but could never find anything like it. Thanks to my friend, Rowan, for helping me write it. Hope you like it.

Recognized: Superman 01, Batman 02

The heroes entered Mount Justice and saw Superboy sparring with Black Canary. Robin stood off to the side giving pointers to Conner every now and then when it seemed Canary was getting bored. Superman and Batman stood near the entrance of the Cave and observed the fight. 

“You haven’t asked him yet.” Batman said to his companion.

“No, but I will today. After he’s done training with Dinah I was planning to show him some more powerful techniques. Then I’ll talk with him.” Superman responded. 

Conner looked away from his opponent briefly, surprised by what he overhead. That slip gave Canary enough time to send him flying. Robin didn’t even try to hide his laughter as he to help Conner back. He muttered, “don’t lose focus” which caused Conner to try and punch Robin, but Robin blocked without a second thought. 

Dinah walked over to Superman and Batman, the two of the founding members of her team, as the boys began their play fight. Together they watched Robin play, while, as usual, Conner was taking the fight too seriously. 

“Report back to me with the answer.” Batman said as he walked off to collect Robin.

“Yes, I’ll ‘report’ on that.” Superman says with a smirk. He turned to Dinah. “Why does he have to say ‘report’ instead of just asking me to let him know how it goes?” 

They watched Superboy obstinately trying to ignore everyone while Batman spoke to Robin.

“How should I know?” she replied. “He’s yours, isn’t he?”

Superman’s eyes went to Batman as he and Robin approach the Zeta tube.

“Yeah. Yeah, he’s mine.” Superman rubbed the back of his neck. “How did that happen?”

“I’ll report back to you on that tonight.” Batman replied with a smirk. 

Robin covers his ears with a grimace. “Ew! You guys, come on.” 

“Sorry, chum.” Batman ruffled the Boy Wonder’s hair as they left the Cave for home in Gotham City.

Recognized: Batman 02, Robin B01

Superman smiled after his husband and their adoptive son fondly. He turned and looked back at Conner who was still in the training area stretching, preparing for another fight.

“Black Canary,” Superman said, a little louder than he needed to, so he could get Superboy’s attention again. “I’ll take over Superboy’s training from here.”

Superboy turned around to face Superman. Black Canary smirked at the Supers in front of her. “Sure, go ahead. Show him how to fight strong.” She winked at Conner before exiting the Cave herself.

Recognized: Black Canary 13

Clark smiled over at Conner. “Are you ready to fight?” 

“I was born ready.” Conner replied confidently, getting into the fighting stance Canary had taught him. Suddenly Conner straightened, “NO! No, I-I didn’t mean-I meant I’m read to fight, not that I’m ready to fight you, but I am ready to fight you,” Conner started pacing, “because I was made to fight you, so I mean, I guess saying ‘born ready’ really is accurate, but I didn’t mean it like that, I-”

“Conner!” Clark interrupted. “How about we skip the fighting and go straight to the talking. There’s actually something really important I wanted to talk to you about.”

Conner nodded sheepishly and walked over to Superman. Clark put his arm around his clone and guided him to the Zeta tubes. 

Recognized: Superman 01, Superboy B04

They came out in beautiful Metropolis, where the sun shone brightly and the birds always sang. Conner could see why the “Boy Scout” was always so happy-go-lucky. 

Superman disappeared briefly before returning as reporter Clark Kent. Superboy frowned at the change, to Clark’s amusement. 

“Do you want some ice cream?” Clark smiled at Conner again and started walking forward, turning out of the ally, and strolled down the busy street. Conner ran a little to catch up.

“Wait! Sup-er— Mr. Kent, I don’t really like ice cream.” Conner stammered, trying not to look at Clark.

“Please, call me Clark. And who doesn’t like ice cream!” said Clark.

“Watching Wally eat it doesn’t make it seem all that good.” Conner cringed at the memory.

“Oh, believe me, I’ve seen that kid eat my weight in ice cream but that doesn’t mean it’s not a vital part of childhood, and you didn’t really get to be a kid. The least I can do is buy you some ice cream. Come on.” Clark swung his arm around Conner’s shoulder again as they walked into Clark’s favorite ice cream parlor in Metropolis.

After getting their ice cream and taking a seat, Conner looked up at his role model. “Thank you for ice cream, Clark, but you really didn’t have to.” 

Clark waved his hand dismissively. The two of them sat there for a minute, eating their respective ice creams and trying not to look each other in the eye. Finally, Clark looked up.

“Conner, I have something to ask you.” Conner straightened up and put on his serious face, which was his normal face. Clark smiled at him. “I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me and my family?” 

“What?” Conner blinked, really and honestly not expecting that. Ever since New Years, Superman had really been trying to reach out to Superboy, training him weekly, talking to him about his powers, even reassuring Conner that all of Superman’s powers didn’t come to him until he was an adult. But Clark didn’t seem willing to talk to him about his personal life.

“My husband wants to meet you, and my son is really excited to have a brother.” Clark chuckled to himself. “To be honest, they’re both a bit confused as to how and why I have a kid with Luthor, but I think Bruce is over it. He’s already wants you to move in and start going to school with our son.” 

“Wait, husband?” Conner asked, blinking in disbelief.

“Yes,” Clark replied calmly.

“And son?” 

“Yes.” Clark smiled at him. “Is that okay? Does it make you uncomfortable?”

“N-no.” Conner looked away stubbornly. “Why would I be uncomfortable?”

“It’s alright if you are. Plenty of people are. I know my parents were confused at first, but they’re from a different generation.”

“Wait, parents?! You have parents too?!” 

“Yes…” Now Clark was the confused one. “Does that surprise you?”

Before Conner could respond, a woman with black hair and a Daily Planet badge sat down next to him. “Hey Smallville, do you have a son we don’t know about?”

Clark glared at Lois Lane, annoyed by her timing. “Lois, this is Conner Kent. Conner this is Lois Lane. She works with me at the Daily Planet, when she’s not busy chasing Superman all over town.” 

“Hey, a buff man in tights! I can’t believe you’re not running after him, too.” Lois gibed back. Meanwhile, Conner was looking between the two of them, trying to figure out if he was supposed to find this funny or be worried about Superman’s secret identity.

“I am married, Ms. Lane.”

“I have met your husband, Mrs. Wayne. And believe me, he’s just as much a cape chaser as I am.”

“What?” said Conner.

“You don’t know Bruce like I do, Lois.” Clark went on, ignoring Conner. “He couldn’t care less about all that.”

“Oh, believe me, Smallville, I know Brucie.” Lois gave him a suggestive smile and fluttered her lashes. Clark glared at her while Lois smiled back, unfazed.

“What?” Conner repeated. Lois looked away from Clark and focused on Conner.

“So are you his son? You look so much like him and you have his last name.” She looked down at the half melted bowl in his hands. “Huh, you even got the same ice cream. That’s cute.”

“Okay,” Clark interrupted, “Thank you for stopping by, Lois. You can leave now. Bye.” Clark stood to pull Lois from her seat next to Conner and ushered her out the door of the ice cream parlor. “Sorry about that.” Clark took his seat again. “She comes on strong.”

Conner looked Clark hard in the eye. “You have parents, a son, and a husband, but your husband isn’t as committed as you are, and it would be plausible for me to be your son.” Conner sighed, closed his eyes, and rubbed the bridge or his nose. “I’m confused; really confused.” 

Clark sighed, too. “I can understand that. All right, first of all, yes, I have parents. I came to earth in a spaceship and I landed on their farm in Smallville, Kansas and they raised me. That’s why Lois was calling me ‘Smallville’, because, apparently, I’m a Kansas farm boy through and through.” Clark smiled over at Conner again. “That’s also why everyone in the League calls Superman a Boy Scout, I guess.

“And my husband, he is committed to our relationship, it’s just—” another sigh, “He hasn’t always been the faithful type. Bruce and Lois used to date. Actually, Bruce used to ‘date’ a lot of people. 

“And, yes, I guess it could be plausible that you’re my son. There was a girl I used to date in high school. But that was a long time ago and I was a completely different person, a really confused person. There was a lot going on in my life that I wasn’t mature enough to deal with.

“And you wanted to know about my son, too?” Conner nods. “Well, his name is Dick, he’s about your age, 14. Oh!” Clark snapped his fingers, surprising Conner. “Do you remember the school the Team chased Amazo into a few months ago?” Conner nodded. “Dick goes there. He said that his locker had a fist shaped dent in it. You didn’t happen to punch a locker with a picture of Superman in it, did you?” Clark looked at his clone.

Conner blushed slightly and looked down at his melted ice cream. “It had hearts on it.” He murmured and shrugged.

Clark laughed at that, and Conner smiled. The rest of their time went smoothly. They walked the streets of Metropolis, with Clark pointing out buildings and landmarks while Conner pretended to care. Eventually, they came back to the Zeta tube.

“So tomorrow night I’ll come and get you at the Cave and we can Zeta to Gotham.” Clark told Conner.

“Yeah, alright.” Conner smiled up at Clark happily, finally feeling like he had gotten to know Superman and could look up to him as a mentor. But even with their new bond, he couldn’t bring himself to ask why they were going to Gotham and not Superman’s home in Metropolis.

They both tilted their heads to the side, suddenly hearing someone in distress. “I have to go. You understand. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Superman changed into uniform at super speed and flew off before Superboy had a chance to ask if he could help. Apparently they weren’t that close yet. 

Conner entered the Zeta tube and arrived at Mount Justice seconds later.

Recognized: Superboy B04

M’gann was there to greet him. Conner smiled at his girlfriend as she floated toward him. “Welcome home, Conner!” She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Conner smiled as he kissed her back and put his arms around her in turn. When M’gann said ‘welcome home’ it really felt like he was coming home. “How was your day with Superman? Did you have fun?” She asked after pulling away from the kiss.

“Yeah,” Conner said rubbing the back of his neck. His girlfriend took his other hand as they walked to the living room. “He told me that you know his secret identity.”

M’gann blushed. “Yes, I do. It really wasn’t hard to figure out. You two look so much alike.” M’gann smiled over at Conner and he smiled back. “You wouldn’t know, but you really do look like him.”

Conner shrugged the comment off, not really wanting to acknowledge that fact, yet. So he changed the subject. “Superman invited me to dinner with his family tomorrow night.”

“REALLY?!” M’gann squealed, “Oh, that is so wonderful!” 

“What’s wonderful?” Kidflash asked from the kitchen. As they entered the living room they saw Wally, Robin, and Kaldur sitting at the kitchen counter.

“Why are you here?” Conner asked, rather rudely.

Robin snickered. “Why does KF do anything; food.” 

“Babe?! How could you?!” Wally put his hand over his heart in mock shock. 

“What is wonderful, M’gann?” Aqualad interrupted. He didn’t want another one of Wally’s fake ‘how could you?’ speeches. They dragged on too long and even Robin was tired of them. 

“Superboy is going to have dinner with Superman’s family tomorrow!” M’gann clapped her hands in excitement. She was so happy that Conner’s relationship with Superman was progressing.

“That’s great!” Robin seemed just as happy as M’gann as he got out of his seat next to Wally and walked over to Conner to smile up at him. “I’m so glad you and Superman are getting along.”

“Yeah, wait to go Supey.” Wally called over from the counter. Apparently he wasn’t excited enough to leave his food. Robin frowned over at him disapprovingly.

“Yes, congratulations, friend.” Kaldur said coming over to pat Conner on the shoulder. “How have things been going with Superman? You have been spending a lot of time with him.”

“Yeah, it’s fine, whatever, can everyone please lay off.” Conner shrugged his leader’s hand off and walked away from his team. He was feeling overwhelmed by the attention and retired to his room. Conner had a long day.

“Maybe we came on a little strong?” Robin suggested.

“Yeah, you guys are so invasive.” Wally said, still looking at his food. Robin frowned at him again. 

“I’m beginning to regret my choice in a boyfriend.” Robin said to Kaldur.

Kaldur smirked back. “I am surprised it took you this long, Robin.”

Wally’s mouth fell open. “How could you guys?!”

“Here we go again.” Kaldur muttered before he left.

“Oh, look… you scared Kaldur away.” Robin waved his arms at Aqualad’s retreating form.

“Um, Robin?” M’gann said quietly.

“I scared him?” Wally replied, finally leaving his food and hopping off of his stool. “You’re the one who told him you don’t want me anymore.”

“Wally?” M’gann tried again.

“Yes, and he agreed with me. He left when you started into another one of your ‘how could you?’ rants. You know he hates those.”

“Robin.” M’gann said, with force this time.

“Yes, sorry Miss M. What’s up?” Robin turned away from his boyfriend and toward M’gann. 

“What?!” Wally waved his arms over his head. “Hey! Don’t ignore me!” 

“Conner wants you guys to stop fighting.” M’gann told the Boy Wonder.

“Seriously,” Wally said, “He can hear us? Why does he even care? Wait, have you and him been telepathically chatting since he left?”

The Martian turned to face Kidflash. “Yes, he is trying to take a nap, and yes.” She told him calmly. She turned back to address Robin. “Can you stop fighting now?”

Wally looked affronted. “Why are you asking him?” Robin nodded at M’gann. “I can stop fighting just as easily as he can!” Robin walked up to Wally mid-rant, put a hand on the back of his boyfriend’s neck and kissed him. When he pulled away, Wally’s eyes looked glossy. “I’m sorry, what was I saying?”

“You were just telling Megs here how you were gonna come over to my house, remember?” Robin smiled over at M’gann, who was trying her best not to giggle out loud.

Robin took Wally’s hand and led him to the Zeta tubes.

Recognized: Robin B01, Kidflash B03

At stately Wayne Manor in Gotham City, Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Dick Grayson, and, oddly enough, Wally West sat down at the dinner table to dig into another one of Alfred Pennyworth’s heavenly meals. Alfred took a seat after making sure everyone was served. 

“I hear from Master Richard that I will be feeding Master Conner tomorrow.”

“Oh really?” Bruce said looking over at Clark, “I don’t recall hearing that.”

Clark shrugged. “I just got here, I didn’t have time to tell you.”

Bruce turned to Dick. “And your excuse?” 

“Wally and I have been here for an hour. You weren’t here and Alfred needed to know how many mouths he’s feeding.” Dick replied, cutting up his food. Bruce looked over at Wally who, unlike Dick, wasn’t taught table manors by a British butler and was almost literally digging into his food. 

“Yes, I see your point.” Bruce raised his eyebrow. Pointing accusingly at Wally, Bruce asked, “Why is he here?” 

“Conner didn’t want him at Mount Justice anymore.” Dick replied nonchalantly.

“So you brought him here?” Clark said frowning.

Wally leaned over to whisper to Dick, “I’m beginning to sense I’m not welcome.” Dick giggled to himself as Bruce’s usual frown became deeper.

“Wally, go home.” Bruce growled at his son’s boyfriend. Wally frowned and began to get up, but Alfred put a hand on his shoulder. 

“Master Wallace, sit down. Master Bruce stop being rude to your guest and eat your dinner or you won’t have any desert.” And Alfred went back to eating, as did the rest of the family.

“So Conner’s coming to dinner, how are we going to play this?” Dick asked.

“We will be a normal family.” Bruce stated seriously, ignoring the snort Wally tried to conceal. “We won’t be the people we show the media, we’ll just be who we are.” Clark smiled at Bruce and took his hand.

“So you’ll be coming to dinner in full cape and cowl?” Wally gibed, earning him a glare from the Bat. 

“Dude,” Dick whined turning to his boyfriend, “he didn’t like you before we started dating, why do you insist on making it worse?” Clark felt Bruce grip his hand tighter.

“Wally,” Clark said, “maybe you really should go. This is more of a family meeting.” Clark looked at Alfred for his permission. He didn’t want to lose his desert, too. A nod from the butler confirmed the decision. Alfred folded his napkin and stood to escort Master Wallace to the door, like any good butler would. 

Wally finished his food with a whoosh and stood up to leave. Dick asked to be excused as well. After a curt nod from Bruce, Dick took Wally’s arm and they walked out of the dinning room. Bruce sighed heavily, when they left the room. After the young couple and their escort reached the door, Dick asked Alfred to give them a minute alone. 

“Certainly, Master Richard. I believe my desert is ready in the kitchen.” Alfred excused himself with a small bow and left.

“Man, I wanted to stay for desert!” Wally whined to Dick.

“Well then maybe you’d want to be nicer to my dads in the future.” Dick pouted and crossed his arms. “What is up with you? You’ve been upset all week.”

Wally looked over at Dick with an angry expression on his face. “Of course I’m upset. All you’ve been talking about for the past week is Conner.” Dick started laughing at his boyfriend uncontrollably. Wally blushed dark red from embarrassment and anger. “It’s not funny!”

“Yes it is!” Dick stopped laughing and took Wally’s hands into his own, lacing their fingers together. “Babe, Conner’s going to be my brother, not my boyfriend. I’ve been talking about him a lot because my family is growing and I’m excited! It’s like we’re having another baby or something! It’s funny that you’d be jealous of him. ”

“I am so not jealous!” Wally cried out.

“Are too.” Dick taunted with one of those smirks Wally loved.

“Are not.”

“Are too.”

“Not.”

“Too.”

“Fine! Maybe I was a little jealous.” Wally looked away.

“Aw, don’t worry, Babe.” Dick went on his toes to kiss Wally. “I’ll still love you just as much when we have a new baby.”

“Shouldn’t your dads be saying that to you?” 

“No, my dads aren’t allowed to kiss me, that’s pedophilia.”

“Dude! So not what I meant!”

“Get out of here already!” Dick turned Wally around and shoved him out the door.

Wally laughed and called over his shoulder, “Miss you, Babe!” before he ran off. Dick sighed as he closed the door, oddly happy at how easily he could make Wally jealous. 

Meanwhile, back in the dinning room, one of Dick’s adoptive fathers was not fairing too well.

“Why is he always here now?” Bruce growled out. “There is nothing wrong with the West house so why does he need to be here?”

Clark squeezed his husband’s hand and supported his own head with the other one. “I think you know the answer to that, Mr. Detective.” Bruce gave Clark the ‘I am not amused’ look. “Come on, don’t you remember how clingy I was when we first started dating?”

“Yes, but I like you.” 

“And Dick likes Wally.” Clark reasoned.

Bruce sighed in defeat. “I suppose I could be nicer.” Clark smiled and kissed Bruce sweetly. Bruce placed a hand on Clark’s cheek to pull him deeper into the kiss. Clark shifted to place one hand on the back of Bruce’s neck and the other on his thigh. 

“Oh come on!” Dick cried, re-entering the room. “I was gone for like, two minutes.”

Bruce and Clark chuckled as they pulled away. “So,” Clark started, “Wally’s been on your nerves lately?” Bruce shifted forward to listen.

“Oh no.” Bruce said. “How sad.”

“Don’t get too excited, B.” Dick said, retaking his seat. “He’s fine, we made up. Clark, you shouldn’t give him false hope, or easedrop.” Bruce frowned and leaned back.

“No, that was wrong of me.” Clark said smiling at Dick who smiled back. 

“You two think you’re funny.” Bruce grumbled over his empty plate. Thankfully, Alfred entered the room with a warm pie in his hands. 

“I have made your favorite, Master Clark.” He said, placing the pie onto the table.

Everyone enjoyed Alfred’s wonderful desert while chatting happily. Clark told them about his day with Conner and their run-in with Lois. Bruce laughed at Lois’ “cape chaser” theory, finding it not completely wrong. Bruce brought them, mostly Dick, up-to-date on his current cases and theories. Dick told his family about Wally, the rest of his team, and all the current Robin theories that were going around school.

When they had finished, the Bat, the Bird, and the Alien headed down to the Batcave to change before patrol, while Alfred cleaned up and wished them a good night. Superman suited up quickly, gave his husband a kiss on the cheek and his son a kiss on the forehead before flying off to Metropolis. Batman and Robin took a bit longer to change, but were in the Batmobile and on Gotham’s rooftops in no time. 

That nights patrol went by uneventfully, only a few crimes with boring criminals. For once, Batman didn’t have a case to write up; therefore everyone was off to bed at a reasonable hour. 

“That was boring.” Robin stated, trotting up the stairs to his room.

“Good. I hope every night is boring in Gotham.” Clark called, following him up the stairs.

“That’s the goal.” Bruce yawned loudly and turned into his bedroom. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Dick.” Clark mimicked. Dick bid this guardians goodnight as he closed the door to his room. Clark smiled to himself as he entered the bedroom after his husband. “What a great kid.”

Bruce smiled over at Clark. “Are you just figuring that out?” He walked over to Clark and put his arms around his neck. “Because I thought we had come to this conclusion long ago.”

“No, I knew it. I just like to remember.” Clark put his arms around Bruce’s waist and pressed their foreheads together. “Do you remember when he came to live with us five years ago, and I was so excited to be a father but you were really nervous and tried to block him out?”

Bruce smiled at the memory. “But Dick is a merciless ray of sunshine and wouldn’t leave me alone until I loved him like my own.” He sighed. “Now he’s a teenager and doesn’t want me around anymore.” 

“What?” Clark pulled his head away to look Bruce in the eye. “Bruce, what are you talking about?”

“He’s in high school now. He has a boyfriend. He’s even set up his own team. He spends more time at Mount Justice than in the Batcave, if he’s not there or at school he’s with Wally. He doesn’t need me anymore.” Bruce buried his face into Clark’s neck. “I’m not ready for this.”

“Oh, Bruce.” Clark held him closer and rubbed his back. “Dick is growing up, no matter how hard you try, and I know you’ve tried by the way, you can’t stop it.”

“And now we’re getting another one.” Bruce murmured into his husband’s neck. “Only this time I’m ready to be a father and you’re the distant one.”

“Hey, I’m trying.” 

“Yes, and I’m proud of you.” Bruce kissed his neck before pulling away and looking him in the eye. “Now, I believe I have a rather long report to finish about why you fell for me.”

“Oh, yes, I believe you do.” Clark brought his hands back to Bruce’s waist, “Please, feel free to present it orally.”


	2. Nerves and News

The next morning Conner woke up with an odd feeling in his chest. It wasn’t pain, like he had been hit, or a good, warm feeling, like when M’gann smiled at him. It was tightness. He couldn’t explain it. 

But Conner shrugged it off and got up out of bed. After a quick shower, he head out to the kitchen for breakfast. M’gann and Zatanna were waiting for him with a buffet.

“Good morning, Conner!” M’gann said with a perky smile. She was still cooking at the stove, despite the piles of food already on the table. Wally couldn’t eat his way through it. 

“Morning.” He said back. He nodded at Zatanna before taking his seat at the counter. 

“I hear you have a big day today.” Zatanna called over from the other side of the counter as she started assembling a plate of food for him. Conner felt the tightness again. He clutched his chest and nodded. “Are you excited? Do you know anything about Superman’s family?”

“I don’t know, not really. He said they wanted to meet me.”

“So you’re going in blind? That sucks.” Zatanna put a plate brimming with food in front of him. 

“He has a son my age, my biological age, not my chronological age.” Conner told them, picking at his food. M’gann dropped her spatula and Zatanna stood stalk still, both girls staring at Conner with open mouths and wide eyes. “What?”

“Superman has a son?!” M’gann asked, utterly shocked.

“Yeah, Superman and his husband adopted him a few years ago.”

“Husband?!” M’gann and Zatanna said together. They moved to stand in front of him, curious about what else Conner “doesn’t know.”

“Yeah,” Conner said, looking up at them. “I didn’t think he was married either. After meeting Wally’s parents, I don’t know how anyone could be married to a super hero. They seemed really worried about him.”

“You’re telling us Superman is gay and you’re worried about his husband?”

“And son.” Conner nodded. They wouldn’t stop staring. “What?”

M’gann sighed. “Oh never mind. You should eat.” M’gann went back over to the stove and turned it off.

Zatanna made a plate for M’gann and herself before they both sat down on either side of Conner. They ate in silence. Every once in a while M’gann would send Conner happy thoughts, like “they’re going to love you,” or “you are going to be fine,” but it didn’t help the tightness in his chest. 

After breakfast, the three of them did their homework together, trained a bit, and then sat down to watch TV. Conner wasn’t paying attention, though. He was still feeling that tightness. He rubbed his chest, right where the ‘S’ was on his shirt. 

“Conner?” M’gann asked, worried. “Are you nervous about meeting Superman’s family?”

“No.” Conner said, crossing his arms like a stubborn child.

“It’s alright if you are.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “This is a big deal.”

Conner looked over to her. Seeing the concern on her face, Conner couldn’t help but feel stupid. He was worrying over something that should be good news. Conner gave her a smile before taking her hand. “You’re right. I’m sorry I made you worry. I should be excited. I’ve just had this pain in my chest all day.”

Zatanna leaned forward from the arm chair she was sitting in. “That’s normal. Do you know the saying ‘sick with worry’?” 

“I guess I’ve just never been sick before.” Conner shrugged, starting to feel the tightness loosen. Somehow acknowledging his nerves made him feel better, like if he   
faced it head on he could beat it. Everyone settled back onto the couch and turned back to the TV.

“Now, on to the rich and the scandalous,” ‘News,’ Conner thought, ‘I hate the news.’ He grumbled and sank deeper into the couch. The only things broadcast on the news were Superman and the league, people he couldn’t save, or some celebrity he’s never heard of doing something Conner didn’t care about. “Lex Luthor was seen leaving a hotel in Metropolis with an unknown man. Could Luthor be following in the footsteps of his billionaire competitor, Bruce Wayne?”

Conner straightened up suddenly. He recognized that name. That was Clark’s husband. “Bruce is boring lately!” The other ‘reporter’ whined. “All he does now is sit at home with his kid and his husband. There hasn’t been a single wrecked car, drunken night, or alleged orgies since he starting living with that farm-boy.”

Conner clutched his knees and tried to suppress his anger. ‘These people were upset because this Bruce Wayne guy had a happy marriage? Because he was behaving responsibly now? That doesn’t seem right.’

“Honey, have you seen Clark Kent?” M’gann’s eyes went wide and she looked at Conner. He nodded in confirmation to her unasked question. “That man may not be in Bruce’s social class but he is definitely on his level.” The ‘news’ team put up a picture of the ‘boring’ family to illustrate their point. 

The image was of Clark and Bruce dancing together at one of Wayne Enterprises many fancy parties. It seemed to be a nice moment until you saw their son, Dick, photo bombing behind them.

“Wow,” Zatanna said. “He looks just like you, Conner. I mean, he’s wearing glasses, but still.” She looked between the two of them. “Oh my God, is that Superman?!”

“I see what you mean.” The second ‘reporter’ said. “But look at Richard. He just ruins the moment. Imagine all the fun these two could’ve had if they didn’t have a kid.”

“But isn’t he the reason they got married? I heard they weren’t even serious until that accident with Richard’s parents. Then all of a sudden Bruce and Clark got married and wanted to adopt. And I heard that it took Child Services a month to let them take in the kid.”

“Really? What do you think happened? Is there some deep dark secret that Wayne isn’t sharing?” Conner stood and turned off the TV before he marched to his room.

Conner could hear M’gann and Zatanna talking in the living room. After M’gann explained about Clark, and Zatanna’s shock wore off, they started talking about how angry Conner was. They were worried about him and nervous about his dinner that night. ‘And they are right to be,’ Conner thought. He didn’t know how to act around Superman’s family before this, now all he would think about was the gossip he had heard on TV. Conner clutched his chest again. The tightness was back. 

Over in Gotham, Superman wasn’t fairing much better. Clark pressed the off button on the remote so hard he broke it. “Damn them!” Clark slammed the remains of the remote onto the table. “How dare they say we can’t have fun with Dick! They don’t know anything! And bringing his parents into this?!” Clark seethed.

Bruce rubbed Clark’s back trying to calm him before Clark broke anything else. “They’re just upset that I’m not as young and reckless as I used to be.”

Clark had to smile. “You’re 29, dear.”

“And you are 33 but those slanderers seem to think I made the right choice in a partner.” 

“That doesn’t help, Bruce.” Clark stood and started pacing the room. “They talked about his adoption, how long it took. Even implying that Child Services found something bad!”

“They think I like little boys.” Bruce leaned back in the couch calmly, crossing his legs and placing his hands in his lap. “They think because I like sex, men, and adopted an orphan I have some dark perversion.”

“Same as that awful women from Child Services.” Clark ran his hands through his hair. “God, she gave Dick such a hard time.”

Bruce stood to stop his husband from pacing. He took Clark’s hands and looked him in the eye. “You knew my life was a media circus when we got married.”

“I know.” Clark sighed. “I just don’t want Dick in the spotlight.”

“Hmm.” Bruce looked off to the side, pulling his ‘Batman is plotting’ face. “Maybe I should have an affaire.” 

“What?” Clarks voice was low and accusing. 

“Not a real one, just something for the media.”

Clark shifted his gaze to the doorway. He could hear a heartbeat from the other side of the door, the heart of a bird. Dick opened the door and said, “No, it’s okay, Dad.”

Clark started to walk toward him. “Dick.”

“It’s okay, Papa. I can take a small investigation.” Dick smiled at his parents. “You guys raised me to be brave and strong.” Clark pulled Dick into a tight hug, which 

Bruce joined in seconds. “Also, I’m a really good liar.” 

Clark laughed out loud. He was proud of Dick for being so brave. Bruce and Clark had never let reporters talk to him about his parents’ death. With the obvious exception of Clark himself, but nothing was ever published. Clark couldn’t imagine what Bruce and Dick had to go through, losing their parents, but he knew it was traumatic. 

Bruce would never talk to him about it, and if Clark tried to ask, Bruce shut him out for at least a week. But that was Batman. When they adopted Dick, Clark thought it might help to talk about his parents’ death. Bruce warned him against it. Alfred warned him against it, but Clark didn’t listen. 

He asked Dick if he wanted to talk, but Dick wouldn’t respond. Clark tried to comfort him, saying things like “it wasn’t your fault” and “they would want you to be happy,” but it didn’t work. Dick wouldn’t speak to him. The next day, when Clark went to check on him, he found Dick’s room empty. He had run away.

He was fine, of course, but after that Clark never brought it up again. When Lois asked or Ma and Pa asked he would always say that Dick was fine, he was adjusting. But Clark knew he couldn’t save him. Dick or Bruce, he couldn’t help them. All he could do was try not to open old wounds. And that bothered him. 

But now Dick was being brave. And Bruce was accepting Conner; he was letting their family grow. Maybe there was hope.

“I hate to interrupt, sirs,” Alfred said from the doorway, “but lunch is ready.”

“Thank you, Alfred.” Bruce said pulling away from their group hug. He smiled at Clark. “You know I would never actually cheat.”

“I don’t know, Bruce.” Clark said, shaking his head in fake disappointment. “You have always been voracious.” 

“Are you kidding me?” Dick looked up from between the two. “You really can’t help yourselves can you?” He huffed and headed for the door. “I mean I’m like five steps from the door. You couldn’t wait ten seconds for me to leave. Unbelievable.” Dick slammed the door on his way out. 

Clark chuckled. He could hear Alfred scolding Dick about slamming doors. Clark started to leave the room, too, but Bruce took his arm. “I think we should talk.” Bruce said.

“I know you wouldn’t cheat, I was just joking.” Clark smiled at him, rubbing the hand on his arm.

“No, not about that, about Conner.” Bruce walked back over to the couch. He nodded to the seat beside him. Clark sighed and sat down next to Bruce. “If Conner saw the news today then he might have some preconceived notions about our family.” 

Clark nodded. “I can talk to him before he comes here.”

“What will you tell him?”

“The truth.” Clark looked at Bruce’s impassive face. “Is that alright?”

“You should ask Dick.” Bruce leered over at him. “After all, I have no secrets.” Bruce stood and that was the end of the conversation. ‘Oh well,’ Clark thought, ‘I’m sure it will all work out.’

After a few hours it was time to pick up Conner. Alfred was preparing dinner while Dick was setting the table and cleaning up around the manor. Clark went down to the Batcave to change and he heard the clicking of the Batcomputers keyboard. ‘Just like Bruce,’ Clark thought with a shake of his head, ‘checking on Gotham before a quiet night in.’ Or at least that’s what Bruce had promised; a quiet night in and a normal family dinner. 

“How’s crime?” Clark asked, leaning on Bruce’s chair. 

“Fine. Off.” Batman said back. Clark leaned off his chair, but not before kissing Bruce’s temple. 

“I’m just going to change and then I’ll be off to get Conner. Shouldn’t take more than a few minuets, and I expect to see you at the door with a smile on your face when I get back. Understood?”

“I know you’re nervous, you don’t have to hide it.” Said Bruce, not looking away from the screen.

Clark frowned down at him. “How did you know?”

At that, Bruce turned toward his husband. “We’ve been together for seven years, I read body language, you’ve been moody all day, you’re a horrible liar, and I’m Batman. Pick your favorite.” 

Clark frowned. “I’m a bad liar?”

“Yes, dear.” Bruce stood and placed his hand on Clark’s heart. “You’re too pure of heart to be a good liar.”

Clark smiled, took his hand, and drew in his husband to place their foreheads together. “That’s sweet.”

“Do you need to talk?” 

“I want Conner to feel welcome.” Clark sighed. “I know I haven’t been there for him, but I really want him to be a part of our family now. I’m just not sure if he’ll forgive me.”

“Go ask him.” Bruce pulled away. “Change and go, you can ask him on your way.” Clark smiled his appreciation, changed at super speed, and gave Bruce a kiss goodbye before flying off.

Conner, meanwhile, was waiting anxiously next to the Zeta tube. He was pacing and wringing his hands, trying to think of something to say. He wanted to ask about the gossip he heard but wasn’t sure how to bring it up, or even if it was appropriate. Clark had only just opened up to him the day before.

“Look at him!” Artemis whispered. “He has on his favorite Superman shirt and favorite cargo pants, and, oh look! His shoelaces are even! He’s all primped!”

“It’s kind of funny.” He heard Rocket whisper back. “It’s like he’s waiting for his date.”

“Superman is not his date,” Miss Martian vouched, “and he should be here soon.”

“We know, but they’re right, M’gann.” Zatanna whispered. “I know you’re concerned about him, I am too, but it’s cute how worried he is.” 

Conner stopped pacing. “Could you all please stop talking about me?” They scurried away giggling, M’gann, however, stayed back and floated over to Conner.

“Don’t forget to smile.” She said and kissed his cheek before leaving with the other girls.

Conner sighed. The tightness was still in his chest. He kept trying to think of a solution, a strategy for this dinner, but Robin and Aqualad were the strategists and he hadn’t seen them. 

Aqualad was in Atlantis with Aquaman today and no one had heard from Robin, not even Kidflash, which was weird. Usually Wally spends at least 10 minutes talking to Robin on the phone then another 10 telling the team about Robin. Stupid things like what he had for breakfast, as if the whole team needs to know type of cereal Robin likes, but that day there was nothing. No annoying phone call, no lesson on how smart he is, not even a run down of Robin’s day, nothing. It was weird.

Recognized: Superman 01

Conner straightened, turning to the Zeta tube. Superman walked forward when the light cleared and gave Conner a smile. “Hello.” He said.

“Hey, uh, I’m ready to go.” Conner flopped his arms at his sides, feeling useless and uncomfortable. 

“Alright, lets head out.” Superman stepped back into the tube and Superboy followed, staying a few feet away.

Recognized: Superman 01, Superboy B04

They came out in Gotham City, a place with a hooker on every corner, pollution in the air, and fast walking pedestrians that seem very interested in the broken pavement under their feet. Conner came to the conclusion that this place was the opposite of Metropolis and asked himself again why Superman’s family lived here.

“I thought we could walk there, if you don’t mind.” Clark appeared in his civilian clothes next to Conner.

“Yeah, sure, I wanted to talk to you anyway.” They started to walk down the street.

Clarks let out a heavy sigh. “So you saw the news this morning, huh?”

“Yeah, and I have a lot of questions.” Conner looked around at the ‘glory’ of Gotham. “But first: why are we in Gotham?”

Clark took a breath, mentally preparing himself for the other questions. “Because my husband lives here and his family estate is here. I couldn’t ask Bruce to move and leave the only ties he has to his family behind. Besides, I can fly, the commute to work is easy.”

“Alright, I guess that makes sense.” Conner nodded. “What about your son? The news made it sound like he was the reason you got married.”

“Well, yes and no,” Clark rubbed the back of his neck. Dick had okay’d the truth so Clark knew he could tell Conner the story of Dick’s adoption, but that didn’t mean he was ready to. It was an especially emotional time in all their lives. Even so, if Conner was going to be a part of their family Clark knew he had to start somewhere.

“Bruce and I had just started living together, maybe a month, and it was our two-year anniversary so we wanted to do something special. This famous circus was in town, Haly’s Circus.” Conner stiffened and Clark noticed. “Have you heard of it?”

“Uh, yeah.” 

Clark shrugged it off. “We went to see the main act. The Flying Graysons, best aerialists in the world if you believe the posters. They were a family of aerialists, actually. Their routine was amazing, like they were actually flying. Then, out of nowhere, they just fell. The Flying Graysons gimmick is that all their stunts are performed without a net, and they just fell.” 

Clark sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair. “I didn’t know what was happening, everyone was running and screaming. I looked over to make sure Bruce was okay and he wasn’t there. He was running into the ring. You see, The Flying Graysons had a young son; he had participated in most of the show but not the final act.”

Clark looked down solemnly. “This boy had just seen his parents fall to their death and he was running toward their bodies. Bruce got to him before he reached them, though, and picked him up. By that time I had gotten over to Bruce and he had all three of us were rushing for the exit.”

“The kid,” Conner said. “He’s Dick, right? Your adopted son?”

“Yeah,” Clark replied. “Bruce wouldn’t let him go. Dick wouldn’t let go of Bruce, either. The police wanted to put Dick in an orphanage; Bruce wanted to adopt him. He thought if Dick were around someone who understood what he was going through it would help him. But Child Services didn’t want to adopt-out to a single gay man.

“So, we decided to get married. Married couples look better to caseworkers. I guess you could say we got married because of Dick, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing.” Clark looked over at Conner, who had been listening intently throughout his story. 

“Then,” Conner said, “why did it take so long to adopt him?” 

Clark groaned. “Our caseworker was homophobic. Eventually Bruce got us a new caseworker and we got to take Dick home.” Clark smiled over at him. “It wasn’t easy, it took forever to gain his trust, but now we’re a family.” 

Conner nodded. “So Bruce was an orphan too?”

“Yeah, his parents died when he was 10…mugging. He doesn’t like to talk about it.”

“And how did you guys meet? You and Bruce.” Conner asked. He wanted to know everything. Sure, it was pushy, but Conner didn’t want to be surprised by anything like he had this morning. Zatanna was right, going in blind sucks.

“We met when I was, oh 26, and Bruce was 22. I wanted a good story for the Daily Plant and Wayne Enterprises had this big merger. I had called ahead and Bruce agreed to give me an interview.” Clark shrugged. “Simple, right? Well when I came to Bruce’s office for the interview he took my arm and we went around the corner for dinner. Apparently I hadn’t been clear on the phone, Bruce thought I was calling to ask him out.”

Clark shook his head, a recollecting smile on his face. “That first date I was so confused I hadn’t really gone to the source for a story before. I mean, I had always tried, obviously, but no one wants to meet with a reporter. So I didn’t really know how these meetings went. 

“I had done my research on Bruce, so I knew what he was like and when he started flirting with me I thought it was just Bruce being Bruce. I didn’t know he thought it was a date until I started asking him about the merger. Do you know what he did?”

Conner shook his head no. “He laughed!” Clark laughed out loud then and Conner could see how happy he was reminiscing. ‘He must really love this guy,’ Conner thought, ‘to still be so absorbed in the story.’

“He told me he had no idea what was going on with the merger, that he was just the face of the company and Lucius Fox actually ran everything. He apologized so many times for hitting on me and promised to arrange a meeting with Mr. Fox the next day. And that’s how we met! Two years later we’re living together, married, and have a nine year old son.”

“Okay,” Conner nodded again. “This is good. I feel like I know everything now.”

“You don’t know everything.” Clark stopped walking and turned to Conner to face him. “I have a very big secret.” Clark looked over both his shoulders before taking off his glasses and leaning in to whisper, “I’m Superman.”

“I know.” Conner said, tilting his head to the side in confusion. “I’m Superboy.”

“I was making a joke.” Clark chuckled, putting his glasses back on. “Come on, we’re almost there.” He clapped his clone on the back and kept walking.  
“Is there anything else I should know? About your family, I mean.”

“Uh, let’s see. Dick is going to very friendly, he really wants you to like him. Bruce isn’t how you may think; he just acts that way in public so the media won’t dig into his personal life, our personal lives. Oh! And we have a butler.” Conner looked over at him, startled. “Yeah, his name is Alfred. He’s, um, well you’ll have to see for yourself. He’s hard to describe. Oh, here we are.”

Conner looked up to see a tall, wide, iron-gate with a big ‘W’ on it. Past that were the grounds, a long stretch of grass and a gravel path leading to a beautiful flowerbed and finely trimmed hedges framing the manor perfectly. Despite the cheerful surroundings, Wayne Manor itself was rather dismal and gothic. It was a big gray building that could’ve been a palace in its day but now seemed more like the ruins of one. Not that the manor was falling apart, it just seemed to be fading away.

“Before we go in,” Clark said, “can I ask you something?”

“Sure, that seems fair. But I’m pretty sure you already know everything about me.” Conner responded.

Clark chuckled darkly to himself. “I want to know…” Clark sighed, “I want to if you’re angry with me?”

“Angry?” Conner asked. “I mean, I was, but I’m not, now. You haven’t been ignoring me, you’ve been helping me a lot.”

“Okay.” Clark said. He put his arm around Conner’s shoulder. “Okay, lets go in.” They started walking up the path and the closer they got the tighter Conner’s chest became. He clutched his shirt again and Clark noticed. “Conner, are you feeling alright?”

“I hope they like me.” Conner blurted out. He turned away and blushed. “I just- it’s just-” Conner took a deep breath. “I don’t wanted to make a fool of myself in front of your family and embarrass you and have you regret inviting me.”

“Oh I wouldn’t worry about that.” Clark said seriously as he continued walking. “I’m not worried about you embarrassing me, I’m much more worried about them embarrassing you.” And with that he opened the door.

M’gann’s words rang in Conner’s head. ‘Don’t forget to smile.’


	3. Coming Together

“Are they here yet?”

“No, sir.”

“Are they here yet?”

“No, sir.”

“Are they-”

“DICK! Alfred will tell you when they are here.” Bruce glared down at his young ward, maddened at his antics. 

Alfred, Dick, and Bruce were waiting in the foyer for Clark to return with Conner so they could begin their first dinner as a new family. Dick had equated it to a mother bring home her newborn for the first time and helping it get acquainted with it’s surroundings, but Bruce thought it was more like meeting his husband’s parents. 

A person/people was coming into his home that he knew all about but the new comer/comers knew only what Clark has told them, be it good or bad. After this one dinner they would form an option based on how he interacted with Clark. ‘So be it,’ Bruce thought. 

“Sorry, Daddy.” Dick said. “I’m just so excited.” Dick looked up at him with pleading and hopeful eyes. Bruce sighed, knowing full well that Dick had him with ‘daddy’. 

He only called Bruce ‘daddy’ or Clark ‘papa’ when he knew he was in trouble or wanted to get away with something. The distressing thing is that it always worked. 

“I know you are, but you don’t have to bother Alfred.”

“Quite right, Master Bruce.”

“Fine.” Dick huffed and crossed his arms. “But you’ll let me know when they’re close, right?”

“Of course, Master Richard.”

Dick sighed. “Fine.” And then there was silence, for a minute, anyway, until Dick asked “Are they close, yet?”

“No, sir.”

“Are they close, yet?”

“No, sir.”

“Are-”

“Richard John Grayson, quit pestering Alfred.”

“They are at the gate, sirs.” Alfred looked over at the young master and frowned. “Honestly, Master Bruce, why can you not keep your tie straight for five minutes? And Master Richard I know your hair was tame when I last saw it.” Alfred walked over to them, straightening Bruce’s tie and fixing Dick’s hair. “I would’ve thought it easy for ones trained in the art of meditation to keep from fidgeting.”

“Sorry, Alfred.” They mumbled. Alfred nodded at them sternly before moving back to the door. The room was silent after that except for the excited buzzing in the air. Bruce could almost hear Dick’s mind squealing in anticipation. 

Suddenly, the doors opened, and Bruce put on as open a smile he could bear without hurting himself. Smiling didn’t come easily for Bruce after so much practice scowling. Clark stood behind Conner, ushering him in with one hand and holding the door open with the other. Alfred reached forward to hold the door but Clark waved him off, as usual. The farm-boy didn’t like being waited on.

Nevertheless, Alfred smiled and greeted him and his clone. “Welcome home, Master Clark, Master Conner. Dinner is ready in the dinning room. May I take your coats?” 

“Yes, thank you, Alfred.” Clark handed Alfred his coat and nodded to Conner to do the same. He did, a little reluctantly. “Conner,” Clark began, “this is Alfred.”

Conner nodded at him, smiling shyly. “Hi.” 

“A pleasure to meet you, sir.” Alfred gave him a little bow before putting his and Clark’s coat into the closet. Conner looked up at Clark, looking confused and slightly uncomfortable. 

“Yeah,” Clark said, “I know it’s weird at first but you’ll get used to it.”

Alfred looked over at Clark. “If, sir, you are referring to my etiquette, I feel you must inform Master Conner that it will not stop, nor will there be any exceptions. Now if you will excuse me, I must begin setting out dinner.” And with a final bow, Alfred excused himself from the room. 

Conner looked up at Clark again, a worried expression on his face. “Is it okay for me to be intimidated by him?” Conner said.

Bruce had to chuckle at that. “It’s not only okay, it’s wise.” He said. Bruce held out his hand for Conner to shake. “I’m Bruce, Clark’s husband. It’s nice to meet you, Conner.” 

Conner took Bruce’s hand a bit wearily, as if to size him up. “It’s nice to meet you too. Clark’s told me…um… nothing, he’s told me nothing about you.”

“Oh no.” Bruce frowned over at Clark. “What did you say?”

“Nothing, I just told him how we met.” Clark said with a shrugged, walking over to put his arm around Bruce.

“No, Clark, you didn’t.” Bruce buried his face in his hands in humiliation. Or whatever Batman could experience instead of humiliation. “Oh God, that story makes me sound so horrible, especially the way you tell it. I sound like such an idiot!” 

“You were an idiot, dear.” Clark smirked at Bruce and kissed his cheek. Bruce dropped his hands from his face to glare at his husband. 

“Maybe so, but you don’t have to make a point of telling everyone how I made a fool of myself.”

“He asked! It’s the story of how we met. I love it—I think it’s endearing. Besides, it goes well with the public image you try to maintain.”

“You did not tell anyone in the media that story.” Bruce’s eyes got dark and threatening. 

“Only Lois and Jimmy, and Peter and-”

“HI!” Dick popped between his dads before they could fight in front of their Conner. “My name’s Dick! I’m so glad you’re here!” Dick surged forward and hugged an unsuspecting Superboy. 

Conner looked over to Clark, again unsure of what to do and needing guidance in this strange environment. ‘I can remember being like that,’ Bruce thought. It occurred to him then that he and Conner had a lot in common when it came to social interactions. 

Before Clark, the only time he received physical contact was on one of his many ‘dates’. Even when he began to trust Clark he didn’t like to let his guard down unless they were on a ‘date’. And then they adopted Dick. It didn’t matter if they were on patrol or at breakfast or Bruce had just come home or Dick had had a bad day. Any time, any place, out of nowhere Dick would hug him and Bruce had no idea what to do. 

Whenever Dick hugged Clark, Clark would hug him back and, depending on the reasons behind the hug, the hug would vary. If Dick had just come back from patrol, the hug would be comforting and reassuring. If they were at breakfast, it was usually a good morning hug, brief and happy, though sometimes Dick held on longer if he’d had a nightmare. If Clark had just come home, it was a tight but brief welcome home hug. And if Dick had had a bad day it wasn’t so much a hug as Dick’s need to be held.

So Bruce tried to follow Clark’s lead and hug Dick back correctly. But it was hard for Bruce to hold him much longer than a few seconds. Dick seemed to understand, but that didn’t stop him from trying. Eventually Bruce got used to it and was sure Conner would too.

Clark laughed as Conner began to fidget in Dick’s hold. “It’s alright to hug him. You had better get used to it, actually. Dick’s a hugger, right Bruce?”

“Yes,” Bruce agreed. He smiled over at Clark, still amazed at how well Clark knew him. Conner looked down at the boy holding onto him, obviously uncertain of what to do. 

Dick looked up at him and said, “Dude, I’m not letting go till I get a hug.” Conner put his hands on Dick’s upper back with a shallow pat pat. Dick pulled away with a shrug. “We’ll work on it.” He gave Conner a little punch to the shoulder and started to walk off. “Come on, let’s eat.” He called to his family.

Clark walked fast to catch up with Dick but Bruce hung back to speak to Conner. “I’m sorry about that,” he said. “Dick is just eager to accept you into our family, and sometimes he comes on a little strong.” 

“Yeah, Clark warned me.” He smiled up at Bruce. “Um, thanks for welcoming me.”

“No problem,” he put his hand on Conner’s shoulder as they walked. “We’re happy to have you.”

“I know it must be weird, my being a clone and all. Especial that I’m also cloned from Luthor.”

“Clark has told me all about the work you do with your team and he doesn’t think you’re a thing like Luthor. Besides, when I married Superman I knew my life would be full of peculiar things. Still, you seem to be a good kind of peculiar.”

“Um, thanks.” Conner looked uncertain again. And then there was silence. ‘Great start,’ Bruce thought sarcastically, ‘let’s see if I can make it through dinner without another slip.’

They all reached the dinning room and took their seats, Bruce and Clark together on one side and Dick and Conner on the other. Alfred served everyone, much to Conner’s displeasure, and took the seat at the head of the table, much to Alfred’s displeasure. Bruce maintained that Alfred take the main chair so he could watch over them all and so Bruce could see Conner more directly. But really Bruce just felt Alfred deserved the seat of honor.

They ate in silence after commenting on the food. Or rather, Conner going wide-eyed and thunderstruck by how good Alfred’s cooking is. Dick tried to make conversation by asking Conner about his life, his girlfriend, his school, and how the team was going. Even though Robin already knew the answer to his questions, he wanted Conner to talk to him and his dads, be open with them. The only response he got, however, was “fine”. To everything the answer was a simple short “fine”.   
Bruce knew Conner was out of this depth, not only with the meeting of new people but also with all the attention he was getting. The awkward dinner ended without incident, thankfully. Alfred began to clear the table and Clark and Conner got up to help. Alfred waved them off and suggested taking Master Conner on a tour of the manor.

“That is a wonderful idea, Alfred.” Bruce stood and held out a hand beckoning Conner to follow. “Come, let him do his job. We’ll show you around, won’t we Clark?”

“Yes, dear.” Clark pushed in his chair and took Bruce’s hand. “Where should we start? The library?”

“Yeah!” Dick said trotting up behind them. “Let’s show him the photo album.”

“No!” Bruce said to Dick abruptly, trying his best not to glare again. “I have been embarrassed enough for one day. I don’t need to be made a fool of again today.”  
“Oh come on, Bruce.” Dick whined. “How is he supposed to get to know us if we don’t show him everything.” 

Bruce gave up on acting casual and glared at the Boy Wonder. It was a ‘now is not the time’ type glare. 

Dick responded with a defiantly raised chin and hard-set eyes as if to say ‘this isn’t something that will go away, I won’t give up’.

‘Trust needs to be built over time.’

‘He has proven himself over and over. You’re playing it safe drives people away.’

“Um, what’s happening?” Conner whispered over to Clark.

“They do this sometimes. Come on, we can go to the library while they’re doing their silent arguing thing.”

“We’re done.” Bruce said, walking ahead. Dick followed grumbling about ‘unfair’. 

“And?” Clark said, scooping Dick into a hug. Clark knew he could use one. Bruce never went easy in a fight… any fight.

“And,” Bruce let out a little sigh and sent a side-glance to Dick. “We will show Conner the photo album.”

Dick’s head perked up. “Really?” 

“Really.” Bruce ruffled Dick’s hair. Dick slipped out of Clark’s hold and made his way over the big wooden doors of the library.

“Conner,” Dick gave him a wide grin and opened the doors dramatically, “this is Wayne Manor’s library!” He stepped aside to reveal a huge room with books lining the walls. This was expected of a library. But the leather chairs, red walnut accents on the shelves, and open patio over looking the superbly trimmed hedges and colorful flowerbed of the estate were something one didn’t see in the public library. 

Conner’s jaw hit the floor for the second time that day. “You have a photo album somewhere in here?”

Bruce chuckled at him. “Yes, I’m sure it’s somewhere around here.” There was a whoosh around the library and Clark appeared in front of Bruce with the album and a smirk. “Show off,” Bruce grumbled.

The couple sat down on one of the leather couches with a space between them. Clark looked over to Conner and nodded at him to take the seat between them. Conner’s eyes widened in alarm, clearing not expecting this; he froze, and turned to Dick. Dick smiled at him and walked to the back of the couch, patting the seat. Conner gave in with a sigh and sat between Clark and Bruce.

Bruce placed the album on Conner’s lap and opened it. Dick leaned over Conner’s shoulder from the back of the couch, Clark shifted closer, and Bruce began his narration. 

He told Conner the backstory of the pictures, with Clark and Dick making comments here and there. There was Clark and Bruce’s first date, some clipped articles that Clark had written for the Daily Planet, the headline of Dick’s adoption, candid pictures of Clark, Bruce, and Dick sleeping, Clark and Bruce reading to Dick, Dick’s first day at school, and…

“Wait,” Conner said, “what’s that?”

“Oh God.” Bruce said.

“Yeah, let’s skip this one.” Clark agreed.

“No, this was my favorite Halloween ever!” Dick protested. He hopped over the couch and into Bruce’s lap, Bruce skooched over and plopped Dick down beside Conner. “You see, for the first three years I wanted to go as Superman for Halloween but that third year Bruce wouldn’t let me, so I said I’d go as Robin if Clark could be Batman and Bruce would be Superman. You can see how that turned out.”

Conner looked down at the photo album again. He saw a smiling Batman with his arm around a slightly smaller, very unhappy Superman, and a chipper retro Robin, green short pants and all, between them. These were obviously not the heroes Conner had become so familiar with. 

Conner looked back over to Dick, who was smiling wider by the second, then over to Clark shaking his head in remorse, and then to Bruce glaring down at the picture like it had insulted him personally, which it sort of did.

“I think that’s enough happy memories, don’t you?” Bruce said.

“Yes.” Clark stood and took the album with him. “Onto the rest of the house.” 

They all stood and continued their journey. Next came the ballroom, where the parties were held, then the kitchen, where Alfred quickly shut them out. They moved onto the west wing, where portraits of past Waynes hung, and over to the north wing where, to Conner’s surprise, a wide assortment of weapons were kept, antiques of course. And then the east wing, where Bruce and Clark’s home offices were, and finally the south wing, where the bedrooms were.

“And that concludes our tour.” Dick said with a flourish of his arm. 

Clark smiled down at him fondly but Bruce frowned and said, “I assume you made most of those facts up.”

Dick frowned back at him. “You assume? You’ve lived here for 30 years and you don’t know?”

“I don’t really pay attention when Alfred tells me about the manor’s history.” Bruce said.

“Do they always fight like this?” Conner asked Clark.

Clark’s smile went over to Conner. “Yeah, but you’ll get used to it.”

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about our earlier argument, dear.” Bruce told Clark.

Conner rubbed the back of his neck and said to Clark, “Sorry I got you into trouble.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Clark waved his hand dismissively.

“Yeah,” Dick added, “Bruce’s probably just going to bribe the reporters to keep it to themselves anyway.”

“Conner,” Bruce cut in, “it has been so nice having you. Now, I don’t mean to be rude, but I need to punish them.” Bruce pointed behind him where Clark and Dick were laughing, not taking the threat seriously. Bruce narrowed his eyes. ‘Your mistake,’ he thought.

Conner, not knowing the real implications of the threat, laughed too. “Okay, I guess I should get back to Happy Harbor. It’s getting pretty late and M’gann might start to worry.”

“I’ll walk you,” Clark volunteered. “Even for us, Gotham is a dangerous city at night.”

Conner said his goodbyes, shaking Bruce’s hand with a smile and giving Dick a hug, a proper one. He even tried to wait for Alfred to come out from wherever he was hiding, but decided to leave his compliments with Bruce.

When the door shut on the Kents’ smiling faces, Bruce heaved a relieved sigh. “I think that went well.”

“Geez, B.” Dick cackled. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile for so long.”

“Yes, and not all of them were faked.” Bruce pulled out his phone, equipped with Batsignal alerts, Watchtower alerts, police reports, Arkham alerts, stock reports, texting, a clock… really whatever Bruce needed.

“Yeah, I was feeling the aster too. I think this will work out.”

Bruce lowered his phone and pinched the bridge of his nose. “For the last time, aster, whelmed, traught, turded, or anything else of that nature are not words.”

“Are so!” Dick said defiantly. Bruce was about to respond when his phone beeped at him. Dick, seeing Bruce becoming serious again, looked at the phone over Bruce’s shoulder. They looked at the screen to see a report from the Watchtower going out to all leaguers and The Team. It was telling them that the Zeta tubes were damaged earlier that evening. Apparently a mad scientist was trying to use the teleporter to break into a lab. “Holy Horrible Happenstance, Batman! Superboy can’t get home.”

“I guess Clark and Conner need a bit of assistance from Batman and Robin.” Bruce said already walking to his office.

“Really?” Dick caught up beside Bruce and looked up at him with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

“Really, chum.”

Dick got a dark look in his eyes. “I am so traught.”

They changed into costume in the Batcave, got in the Batmobile, and headed out to the streets of Gotham. Bruce flexed his fingers on the steering wheel of the Batmobile, finally feeling at ease. In his Batsuit, in his Batmobile, in his city, everything seemed right. 

He drove swiftly through Gotham, knowing all the streets and exactly where he was heading. Most passengers would be terrified by Batman’s driving, but Robin’s faith in Batman never wavered and he simply looked out into the city from his window.

They were approaching Clark and Conner on the street. Robin looked over, his impish smirk coming back, and Batman nodded with a smirk of his own.   
Knowing the Boy Wonder always had to be dramatic, instead of stopping the car and getting out to speak with the Supers, Batman slammed the brakes, making the Batmobile spin-out with a cloud of smoking rubber going over Clark and his clone, making them cough. Robin jumped out of the car into the smoke with a flip and landed behind the Supers. Batman came to a full stop on the next block, but didn’t get out. Instead he listened to Robin talk with Clark and Conner.

“Supey! How was dinner?” Robin asked.

“Did you really need to do that?” Conner clenched his fists and stomped his feet over to Robin until he was towering over him. 

Robin smiled up at him coolly. “You didn’t like my performance? I thought you’d be turded. Anyway, how was dinner? Did you have fun?”

Clark put his hand on Conner’s shoulder, trying to calm him down before asking, “What’s going on, Robin?” Clark sent a look over to the Batmobile to glare at Bruce. He had promised that Batman would not make an appearance this evening, and as far was Bruce was concerned, Batman hadn’t appeared. 

Robin let out sigh. He was disappointed Clark wasn’t letting him tease Conner anymore. “Apparently some scientist thought that he could work the Zeta tubes, but he was wrong so they’ll be down until tomorrow.” Robin shrugged at Superman. 

“So, I can’t get back to the Cave?” Superboy asked.

“’Fraid not.” Robin shook his head in phony regret. 

“Looks like M’gann will have to wait.” Superman patted Conner’s back. “You’ll just have to stay at the Manor tonight. Come on, you can call her from there.”

“’Night! Don’t let the bats bite!” And with that, Robin waved his farewell and he ran, flipped, and cart wheeled back to the Batmobile. He got in and buckled up, turning to Batman. “Conner’s going to stay the night!” 

“Don’t let the bats bite?” Batman raised and eyebrow under his cowl at Robin. 

“Yeah, bats. What’s Conner gonna wear?” 

“Bats. I know we have a lot of bat themes-”

“Like the Batman, and the Batcave, and the Batmobile, and the Batcomputer, and the Bataranges, and-” 

“But I have never said ‘don’t let the bats bite’. I wouldn’t say that.”

“No, you wouldn’t; it’s funny, you don’t do funny. Alfred used to say it when he tucked me in. When I first moved in before I was Robin, I heard bats screeching at night and it scared me, so Alfred tried to make it better with, you know, a joke.”

Batman responded with a ‘hmmm’ and the rest of the ride back was silent. After going through the waterfall, along the cave’s ridge, back onto the Batmobile’s resting place, and hopping out of the car, Robin asked again. 

“So what’s Conner gonna wear? I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but we’re not really the same size, Conner and I. And I know he’s not yours or Clark’s size yet, so what’s he gonna wear?”

“I think Mrs. Kent sent some of Clark’s old things a while back. Maybe Alfred will find something.”

Bruce and Dick changed back into the clothes they wore at dinner and went into Bruce’s study to wait for Clark and Conner to come back. Bruce called Alfred in and informed him that Conner would be staying the night and would he mind finding Conner some clothes. 

“Certainly, Master Bruce. I will set them on his bed.” And he left to do just so. A few minutes later, Alfred returned with Clark and Conner in tow. “Master Bruce, it seems that Master Conner can not get home tonight.”

“What’s wrong?” Bruce asked, feigning ignorance. 

Clark glared at him from behind Conner. “Someone took out the Zeta Tube, he’s stuck in Gotham till tomorrow.” 

Dick jumped out of his seat and sprang into Conner’s arms. “Sleepover!” 

Clark and Bruce laughed at Dick. Conner laughed with them and hugged Dick closer. Clark saw this and pulled both boys into a tight hug. Bruce smiled up at them, glad that the evening had gone so well. He wouldn’t have thought Conner could be so adaptable in a social situation like this, but he really fit in. And Dick always seemed to help him when he was having trouble.

Dick led Conner up to the manor’s many bedrooms, followed by Clark and Bruce. Dick stopped at the one right next to his room and opened the door to reveal a large well-furnished room with a neatly folded stack of Clark’s old clothes on the bed. Clark and Bruce stood at the doorway while Dick told Conner about his morning routine.

“Since it’s the weekend, Alfred makes breakfast at eight, but if you aren’t up by then he’ll come get you. And Sundays are usually Pancake Day, so you’re super lucky. And you know where the bathrooms are, but there’s also one in your room. Over there, see? And-”

“Alright, Dick.” Clark interrupted. “Let’s give Conner some space. It’s bed time anyway.” Dick walked over to his parents and Conner sat down on his bed. “The phone’s right by your bed, so you can call M’gann, let her know you’re okay. If you need anything else, just call. I can hear you. Or Dick’s right next-door. Well,” Clark yawned and smiled over at Conner once more, “goodnight.”

“’Night, Conner.” Dick said. 

“Don’t let the bats bite.” Bruce chuckled quietly to himself.

“What?” Conner asked. He walked over to them eyeing Bruce disbelievingly. “Wait, what?” Bruce, Clark, and Dick all froze in the hallway, staring at Conner, waiting to see what he would do. “OH MY GOD!” He shouted in sudden realization. “I cannot believe I missed this.” 

Clark shied away, ashamed to have lied to Conner again. Dick chuckled quietly, pleased that he wouldn’t have to lie to his friend anymore. And Bruce chose to drop his act and become impassive. Conner glared at all of them. “I mean, that little troll-”

“Hey!” Dick interrupted.

“-Basically told me about 20 times at dinner, with all those questions about the team that Superman couldn’t know. But I didn’t listen and, oh my God, it’s just so obvious now. Superman is married to Batman; that makes so much sense! Robin-” Conner glared at Dick, “-is always making jokes about them getting married. And whenever they’re in the same room Clark can’t keep his eyes off Batman.”

“Hey!” Clark protested. “I’m a little more discreet than that.”

“No, you’re not, dear.” Bruce said dryly.

“And you!” Conner pointed accusingly at Bruce. “You, um,” Conner let his arm drop, “have, actually, always been pretty nice to me. I mean, I guess you’re Batman, but you’ve been pretty understanding.”

“Yes.” Bruce stated plainly. “It’s bedtime and you have a lot to think about. So before we all go to sleep, you must know that you may never tell anyone. If you endanger my family you will regret it. That is all.” And Bruce shut Conner’s door in his face.

Clark frowned at him disapprovingly and said, “You’re going to send him to bed with a threat?”

“Yes.” Bruce stated. 

Dick shrugged and went into his room. “Oh well, we can work it out in the morning, right?”

“I guess.” Clark bowed his head in defeat. 

“Don’t worry.” Bruce’s eyes softened and he cupped Clark’s cheek to look him in the eyes. “I know he’s a good kid. Now, let’s go to bed. We’ve had a long day.”

“You’re not going on patrol tonight? You’re not to turning to Batman again?” Clark asked putting his forehead on Bruce’s.

Bruce smirked and replied softly, “Only if you want me to.”

“You know I can hear everything, right?” Conner called from his room.

“Me too.” Dick called from his. “Believe me, SB, it only gets worse.”


	4. Brotherly Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry this one took so long, so i made it extra long.

Dick woke up early to the sound of his phone ringing. He hoped the ringing wouldn’t wake Clark or Conner. Conner wasn’t a morning person and even though Clark is, he would wake Bruce and Batman definitely wasn’t a morning person. He groaned and reached for it. Dick looked at the caller I.D. and saw it was Wally calling.

He groaned again before answering. “This had better be good, KF.”

“Dude! Where’s Supey? M’gann says that he never came back after dinner yesterday. She said he was staying with Superman.”

“What?” Dick looked over at his clock. “Wally, it’s not even eight o’clock yet, why are you awake? And why are you at Mount Justice already? It’s Sunday, shouldn’t you be sleeping till like three?”

“Haha, very funny. Canary gave me the week off for training ‘cause I had this big test, but now she wants me to train all day today. Can you believe that? I know I’m not the fighter you and Canary are but I don’t think I need to train all day! And yeah, combat it important-”

“Wally!” Dick groaned again. “Listen, I will be happy to listen to you ramble on about training and combat and my skill late into the night, but babe, I can not do it first thing in the morning.”

Dick could hear Wally laughing lightly on the other side of the phone. “So, dinner didn’t go that well, huh?”

“Actually, it went pretty well. Superboy’s here, by the way. Since the Zeta tubes were broken last night he had to stay.”

“Yeah, okay, I guess that’s cool.” Wally said quietly. 

“You’re not still jealous, are you?” Dick taunted with a smirk.

“NO!” Wally shouted. Dick could hear Artemis, M’gann, and Zatanna yell at Wally to keep it down and Dick laughed openly.

“Oh! And you will never guess what happened last night!” Dick said. “Conner found out about us. The Batman and Robin us.”

“No way! That was fast.” Dick heard Wally sigh into the phone. “Oh Robin, you spilled the beans.”

“Hey! I’ll have you know that it was the Bat himself that spilled the beans.”

Wally laughed manically. “Oh man! How mad was Batman?”

“He was actually cool. I mean, he threatened Conner, but he probably would’ve done that anyway.”

“I really don’t know how you can live with him.”

“Clark helps.” Dick tossed his blankets off and got out of bed. “I’ll call you after breakfast, and you can tell me all about your training.”

“Okay, babe. Bye for now.” 

“Bye.” Dick hung up and looked at Wally’s caller I.D. picture for a minuet. Dick resolved to visit Wally later that day, make it up to him for brushing him off in their conversation. Maybe he would take him to dinner, or get him some candy. Wally really liked candy, especially choc- “Holy Horrible Memory!” Dick yelled suddenly, falling back onto the bed.

“What’s wrong?” Dick looked up to see his door open a peek and Conner looking over at him, a battle ready look on his face.

“I completely forgot that it’s almost Valentines Day!”

“Oh.” Conner furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance. He opened the door and walked in a few steps. “It’s next week, right? I think M’gann is planning a dinner for us.” He shrugged. “I don’t get it but it seems important.”

“Is she really?” Dick asked with a smile. “I bet Miss M is excited! There was probably a Valentines Day episode of Hello Megan and she’s just been waiting to reenact.”

“So it is a big deal?” Conner furrowed his brow in confusing. “I thought you just bought your girlfriend chocolates or something?”

“Yes, but the whole point of Valentines Day is to show your loved one how much you care about them, in a romantic way. Get it?”

Conner shrugged and left. Dick rolled his eyes and started getting dressed. He had to think about what to do for Valentines Day. He had never celebrated before, aside from the cards they make you hand out in elementary school and the little gift exchange that he and Barbara always did. ‘What would Wally want?’ he asked himself.

After getting dressed, Dick went down stairs to the small table right outside the kitchen where Clark and Bruce sat, each of them reading the paper. Bruce had The Gotham Gazelle and Clark had The Daily Planet. Conner was nowhere in sight.

“Where’s Conner?” Dick asked. 

Clark cocked his head to the side for a second then smiled. “I’ll go get him.” Clark got up and left to, apparently, get Conner.

As soon as Clark left the room, Bruce set down his paper, put his elbows on the table, laced his fingers together over his mouth, and narrowed his eye suspiciously at Dick. “You and Wally haven’t made plans with for Valentines Day yet, have you?”

“No,” Dick said taking his seat. Bruce always resorted to interrogation when asking Dick about his boyfriend. Clark said Bruce would stop eventually, but Dick doubted it. Batman wasn’t the type to let things go and Dick had a feeling Batman’s little Bird wasn’t going to be the exception.

“Invite him to the ball.” Bruce said, with an analyst’s eye on Dick.

He looked up at Bruce. “Really? You’d let me?”

“We should invite Conner and M’gann too, don’t you think?”

“Yes! I am so feeling the aster! Dad, you’re the best!” Dick jumped out of his seat and into Bruce’s arms, hugging him tightly.

Clark came back into the kitchen with Conner in tow trying to explain how to navigate Wayne Manor, when he saw his husband and son. “You told him the good news.” Clark said with a smile. He sat back down in his seat next to Bruce and Conner took up one on the other side of the table.

Dick let go of Bruce and turned to Clark. “You did this, didn’t you?” He asked. Clark smiled at him and nodded before Dick jumped into his arms. “Thank you, Papa! I know it’s hard to get through Dad’s head sometimes.”

“Hey now,” Bruce said. “I believe it is Kryptonians that have the hard heads.”

“Seconded.” Conner added from across the table. Clark, Bruce, and Dick looked over at him. Dick pulled away from Clark’s arms and ran to Conner’s. He tackled Conner and would’ve knocked anyone else to the floor. Conner laughed and held Dick tight before pulling away. 

Dick hopped into his chair and told Conner, “Every year, the Wayne Foundation holds a ball on Valentines Day. Can you come? And bring M’gann. She would love it! There are a bunch of fluffy dresses and sometimes it’s a masquerade ball and the food is good and everything’s covered in hearts and-”

“Okay, I’ll come. Calm down.” Conner said. 

“Sorry, I’m just really excited. Bruce said I could bring Wally! I’m going to call him right now.” Dick started to run out of the kitchen but suddenly Alfred appeared at the doorway.

“Master Richard,” he said. “I believe Master Wallace can wait until after you’ve had your breakfast to hear the good news. Now please take your seat.” Dick turned around and did as told. Alfred placed a big stack of pancakes in the center of the table and gave everyone a plate, before sitting himself.

“Wow,” Conner said. “You weren’t kidding about the pancakes.”

“No, he was not.” Bruce said. He took a stack for himself before passing the plate along to Clark. “How is Miss Martian?”

“Um.” Conner glanced over at Dick.

“It’s okay, Supey. He may be Batman but he’s not aloud to plot your doom on Pancake Day.” Clark laughed and Bruce glared but Dick shrugged it off. 

“She’s alright.” Conner said. “I told her I was with Clark’s family, but I wasn’t specific about where. She might know, though. We all saw the news together yesterday. Oh,” he turned to Clark, “Zatanna knows your secret I.D. Sorry.” 

“It’s alright.” Clark said with a smile. 

“I’m surprised the whole world doesn’t know.” Bruce said. “Your only disguise is a pair of glasses. Any decent facial recognition software should be able to figure it out.” 

Dick laughed. “He’s right, you know. And Conner, you don’t even wear glasses! How do you blend in at school?”

“I glare and people avoid me.” Conner muttered into his food.

“Oh my.” Clark chuckled. “Bruce, are we sure he’s not your clone?”

Bruce smirked at that. “I have spent more time with him.”

“Low blow, Bruce.” Clark grumbled. 

They ate in silence for a while. Quietly eating their pancakes until Conner asked, “So, Halloween?”

“Yes?” Dick asked with a malicious smile. Clark lay down his fork and hit his head on the table, while Bruce left the table all together.

“Those costumes you all wore were the real thing, weren’t they?”

“Yes. That was my old Robin costume, and Clark wore Bruce’s Batsuit, belt and all, and it took us forever to get Bruce’s curl just right.” Dick laughed. “I will always remember Batman in a red cape. So priceless.”

Conner smiled. “I never would have guessed it, but after seeing that picture I believe you are a bigger troll then you led on.”

“He was raised by Batman.” Clark said, head still on the table. “There is no end to his trolling.” Dick and Conner laughed and Bruce came back in with a cup of coffee for him and Clark. 

Breakfast went much more naturally the last nights dinner. They talked about Valentines Day plans for Dick and Wally and Conner and M’gann. Bruce had some good ideas. Clark actually found it rather shocking seeing as how Bruce always seemed to forget to make plans for them. Later, Dick and Conner regretted asking them. Dick smirked at Conner and rolled his eyes while his dads fought. Conner responded by sticking out his tongue. ‘Yup.’ Dick thought. ‘He’s going to fit in great.’

After their amazing breakfast of pancakes, Dick was excused to call his boyfriend and tell him about the party. Dick ran up to his room and immediately called Wally. 

“Hey, babe.” Wally said.

“Hey! How is training going?” Dick said, lying down on his bed.

“It’s okay, I guess. Canary’s running me harder than usual. She seems to think I’ve gone soft from missing one week of training.”

“Well, you do eat a lot.”

“It’s not my fault!” Wally said. 

Dick heard munching. “Are you eating now?”

“Maybe.” Wally said sheepishly. “Canary gave me a break to fill up. She doesn’t seem to think the eating’s a problem.”

“Bruce says that your metabolism should settle down after puberty. So there is hope.”

“Haha, you are funniest.” Wally said sarcastically.

“No, actually. You know what’s funny? Bruce said I could invite you to the Valentines Day ball the Wayne foundation is holding.”

“No, see, that’s not funny because Batman said it and Batman never kids or jokes, and he doesn’t comprehend humor.”

Dick rolled his eyes. “Then what can we infer from his comment?”

“Wait, I’m actually invited? Cool, I’ll be your date.” Wally chuckled on the other line. “When is Valentines day, anyway? Like in a month?”

“Babe,” Dick said. “It’s next week.”

“What?!” Wally yelled. Dick heard Artemis and M’gann yelling at him again. There was a rustling sound, probably a fight, and them Artemis was on the line. “Okay, Boy Wonder, what’s all the fuss about?” She said frankly.

Robin laughed. “I’m sorry. I’ll make him whisper from now on.”

Artemis chuckled a little. “No no, you don’t have to go that far. Just tell me what this is all about so I can properly tease him.” Dick could hear Wally whining in the back round and a bit of rustling as Artemis kept the phone away. ‘Maybe he does need extra practice,’ Robin thought.

“He forgot that Valentines Day was next week.” Robin said.

“He what?!” Artemis yelled. Then things like “how could you forget?” and “worst boyfriend ever!” in the back round directed at Wally.

“Artemis, it’s okay. I forgot till this morning, so we’re kind of even.”

“You forgot too?” Dick heard M’gann say.

“What? Hello?” Dick called out, a bit confused about whom he would be talking to next.

“Yes, hello Robin, it’s M’gann. I put you on speakerphone. Artemis gave me the phone because she’s busy fighting Wally, but Wally wants to talk to you so…” Dick heard a thund and a groan from Wally. M’gann said, “Oh no, Artemis pinned him.”

Dick sighed into his phone. “Babe, you okay? Did the mean blond lady hurt you?”

“Fine,” was Wally’s grunted reply. 

“I’ll call you back and we can work out our V-Day plans, alright?”

“What are you guys gonna do?” Artemis asked.

“I’ll call Wally back.” Robin said curtly. “Bye.” He heard a chorus of ‘byes’ then he hung up the phone. Dick wished Artemis hadn’t interrupted his call, but really it was Wally’s fault for talking around the girls.

Dick suddenly decided that it was time for his own training. He hopped out of bed and made his way down to the Batcave. On his way through the halls of Wayne Manor he passed Conner.

“Hey, are you lost again?” He asked.

“No.” Conner said, stubbornly crossing his arms over his chest.

“Alright.” Dick raised his arms in surrender. “I was just headed down to the Batcave. Do you want to come? You didn’t get to see it on your tour of the manor yesterday.”

Conner shrugged and Dick took that as a yes so he continued his journey down to the Batcave with Conner following him. They went into Bruce’s study, turned the hands of the clock, walked through the clock, and down the long dark stairs. Conner cocked his head to the side, the way Clark does when he hears something that other people can’t, but Conner shrugged it off.

They entered the Batcave, and Dick was about to go into a brief monolog about the history and the souvenirs Batman had collected, when Conner interrupted him. “He really does have actual bats down here. Isn’t that a bit much? I know he’s the Batman, and this is the Batcave, and you have the Batmobile, but real bats? Who feeds them, and cleans up after them?”

“Alfred,” Dick said, pouting a bit at having to abandon his little speech. “And the bats were here when Bruce found the cave. That’s why he’s Batman.”

“Okay, fair enough. But does Alfred really do all the work? No disrespect, but he seems a little old to be taking care of all three of you, and feeding all of you, and cleaning up this whole manor, and now there are bats. It seems to be bit much, don’t you think?”

Dick saw a dark figure appear behind Conner but decided not to mention it. “Clark and I help out sometimes.”

“Bruce doesn’t help?”

“He pays.” Dick said. He glanced back at the figure briefly. Dick wondered if Conner knew he was there.

“Is that all he does?”

“I am the knight,” the dark figure said. Conner turned around and jumped to shield Dick before he saw Batman, in full costume, standing behind him.

“How long have you been there? I didn’t hear a thing.” Conner said, blushing slightly. Batman moved back into the many shadows of the cave without a word.

“Sadly, that wasn’t weird.” Dick clapped Conner on the shoulder.

“He doesn’t act like that all the time, does he? He doesn’t act like that at Mount Justice.”

“No, it’s a special thing between him and Gotham. Come on let’s began the tour.”

He showed him the trophy cases, the penny, the dinosaur, and told him the stories. Dick took Conner to the Batcomputer and tried to explain its many functions. They toured the archive, where all old, outdated tech were kept, like cars, weapons, and costumes, including the one Dick wore in the Hallowing picture. And finally they reached the training center of the Batcave, where training equipment and programs were kept. 

“I was going to run a few simulations. Do you want to try it out?” Dick asked. 

Conner shrugged. “Its shouldn’t be too hard.”

Dick smiled at him darkly. “You have no idea.” Dick disappeared into the shadows to change.

“Oh come on.” Conner said, looking at the shadows around him. He did not want to be surprised again. “What kind of challenge is there for me?”

Robin came out of the shadows in full uniform and cackled from behind Conner. “Let’s see how challenging this is.” Robin moved over to the switchboard and turned on the simulator. 

All of a sudden, lasers came out of the floor and started firing at Conner. They didn’t hurt him, but they did distract him as a giant metal cylinder swung from the cave roof and hit him, knocking him onto his back. Robin found his mercy and turned off the machine. “Not so easy, is it?”

“Turn it on again.” Conner said, getting to his feet. Robin shrugged and did as asked.

Conner was ready this time. He avoided the lasers and jumped out of the way before the cylinder could hit him. He had learned from the past and Robin was impressed, until the spikes came up from the floor and Conner fell onto them. Robin turned off the simulator again.

“Are you okay?” Robin went over help him up.

“Again.” Conner stood and pushed Dick away.

“Maybe I should show you the whole simulation before we go any farther.” Dick pushed Conner over the control panel and instructed him to push the big red button on his command. “Ready.”

The lasers came up again but Robin dodged them easily after years of practice. When the metal cylinder came by Robin jump on it to avoid the spikes that came up seconds later. Hoops came down from the cave ceiling, which Robin grabbed into, swinging himself up. The lasers shot at Dick again but this time the left burn makers in the stone. Robin flipped through the hoops and landed on the raised pillars on the floor. The spikes lowered and Dick jumped down. 

“See? And that’s just level one.” He said with a smile to Conner. 

Conner turned off the simulation. “Don’t you think the burning lasers are too much?”

“I prefer the lasers to bullets.” Robin said solemnly.

“Let me try again.” Dick nodded and switched places with Conner.

They trained for a few hours, taking turns with the simulations, Robin showing Conner new moves, even helping him to maneuver more fluidly. By the time they were done it was time for lunch. Dick and Conner went back to their rooms to change and shower before walking down to the kitchen. 

“Dick?” Conner asked on their way.

“Hmm?”

“Clark said you’re from Haly’s Circus.”

Dick stopped walking. “Yeah.”

“And you led the Team to investigate Haly’s.”

“Yes.” 

“You told us to ‘keep an open mind’ while investigating.”

“Yeah, well, just because someone travels the world in a caravan doesn’t mean they’re a criminal, right?” Conner stared at him. “Okay, fine.” Dick looked up at Conner. 

“Since you dragged it out of me: yeah, I grew up in Haly’s Circus. Jack Haly is like a grandfather to me, I couldn’t let him be framed, okay? I couldn’t stand by and let him lose the circus when I could do something about it.” Dick took a breath. “Batman didn’t, exactly, give us the mission. I sort of took matters into my own hands.”

Conner looked at him earnestly. “I won’t tell Bruce.”

Dick let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Conner. Bruce would kill me. Actually, he probably already knows, because he’s Batman, but if someone told him, he would kill me out of principle.” 

They continued walking and soon make it to the kitchen. Alfred was already there, putting his finishing touches on their meals. 

“Where are Clark and Bruce?” Conner asked.

“They’re probably training too. I’ll get them.” Dick said. He went to the basketball court outside and saw his dads playing around, or as Bruce liked to call it “training”.  
Bruce was dribbling the ball trying to get past Clark. He got around Clark and ran for the basket. He jumped up to dunk but Clark caught him around the waist. Instead of pulling Bruce down and taking the ball, Clark flew Bruce up to make the basket. 

“Hey!” Bruce said. “I thought we were playing by human rule. I don’t cheat.” Clark just laughed and put him back on the ground. Clark turned Bruce around and kissed him, still holding his waist. Suddenly Clark pulled away and reached for the ball still in Bruce’s hands. “Not fair.” Bruce said moving the ball out of Clark’s reach. “You distracted me.”

“I didn’t know Batman could be so easily distracted.” Clark jibed. He sprang for the ball again, but Bruce tackled him to the ground. They started wrestling until Bruce decided to stop the playing and kissed his husband deeply. 

Dick decided this would be a good time to interrupt. “Hey!” He yelled from the door. They turned to look at him. “Lunch is almost ready.”

Bruce through the ball at Dick, but Dick ran before it could hit him. Making it back to the kitchen unharmed, he announced that Bruce and Clark would be right in. A few minuets later they came into the kitchen after showering and sat at the table as well.

The new family ate in a contented silence.

Meanwhile, over in Happy Harbor, Artemis was kicking Kidflash’s butt, again. The computer announced Kidflash’s failure as Artemis gloated over him.   
“Yeah, alright,” Wally said, getting to his feet. “I get it, you’re good at combat. Give it a rest, blonde.” 

“I’ll give it a rest when you beat me, Flash Boy.” Artemis said with a smirk.

Wally balled his fists, ready to go at Artemis again, but Black Canary intervened. “Alright, that’s enough training for today. Hit the showers.”

“No need,” Artemis said, “I didn’t even break a sweat.” She walked of to the kitchen.

Wally spared one last glare at her before heading to the showers. After cleaning up he went to the kitchen to eat before heading home for the day.

“What is wrong with you?” Artemis asked as soon as he entered the room. She was sitting in the living room across from the kitchen watching TV with M’gann and Zatanna. “You were doing fine this morning, but you’ve been losing since then.”

“Yeah, I know.” Wally groaned. “I’m just distracted. Ever since Rob called this morning I can’t stop thinking about Valentines Day. I totally forgot and I think he has something really nice planned.”

“What makes you think that?” Zatanna asked. “Has he been hinting at something?”

“Of course he’s planning something!” Artemis interjected. “It’s Robin. He plans everything.”

M’gann frowned. “Robin told me he forgot until this morning.”

“Really? It’s unlike him to forget something like that.” Artemis said.

“Let’s not forget,” Zatanna said. “Robin is only 14 and Wally’s his first boyfriend. It’s not like he needed to remember Valentines Day before.”

“Okay, maybe Robin’s not planning something.” Wally muttered from the fridge. ‘Honestly’, he thought, ‘when did this become about Robin. I thought Artemis was supposed to be making fun of me.’

“No, he’s probably planning something now.” M’gann said. “He did say he’d call you later, right?”

“So what are you getting him?” Artemis asked Wally.

“Huh?” Wally looked up from the sandwich he was making. The girls turned around on the couch to look at him.

“What are you going to get Robin for Valentines Day?” Artemis asked again.

“Oh, um…” Kidflash rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know.”

“Worst boyfriend ever.” Artemis whispered.

“It’s okay, Wally!” M’gann said, floating over to him. “We’ll help you! Won’t we?” She turned to face Zatanna and Artemis.

“Of course we’ll help!” Zatanna said. 

“If we don’t, Kid Idiot will probably get him something stupid.” Artemis said.

“Go easy, okay?” Wally whined. “I’ve never done this before. Well, never with a boyfriend.” Wally shook his head. “Man, girls are so easy. All I’d have to do is get her a teddy bear or something. I couldn’t get Robin a teddy bear, he’d kill me.”

Recognized: Robin B01

Everyone in Mount Justice’s kitchen froze. “Speak of the Devil-” Wally said with a wide grin. He speed over to the teleporter and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend. “-and he will appear.”

Robin pulled out of Wally’s arms just enough to give him a kiss. “Hello to you too. Did you miss me?”

“You have no idea. Artemis was so mean to me.” 

“Oh, babe. Do you want me to kick her butt? I’ll take her down.”

Artemis walked up to them with a snort. “You wish, Boy Blunder.” M’gann and Zatanna followed right behind Artemis.

“We’ll have to settle this later, Artemis. For now I’m here for KF and Miss M.” 

“What? Why?” M’gann asked.

“Bat’s has a special assignment for us in Gotham.” Robin said with a shrug. 

“Oh come on!” Wally threw his arms up in exasperation. “I just finished my training. Now I have to go on a mission. This is not cool.”

“Fine, stay here.” Robin walked over to the Zeta tub. “Come on, Miss M. We can explain to Batman how Kidflash was too tired to go on a mission for him.”

“Okay, alright, I’m coming.” Wally sighed. Wally and M’gann followed Robin into the Zeta tub.

Recognized: Robin B01, Kidflash B03, Miss Martian B05

The three of them came out in an ally in Gotham where the Batmobile was parked. 

“Hop in.” Robin said before ‘hopping’ into the passengers seat. Miss Martian looked over to Kidflash for reassurance. When Kidflash gave her a smile and got into the back seat she followed his lead and got in on the other side.

“I didn’t know this thing had a back seat.” Wally commented. Batman gave him a glare through the rear view mirror. “Sorry. Being quite now.” With a nod, Batman speed out of the ally and into the street.

Luckily it was nearing rush hour and Batman couldn’t drive through Gotham’s streets with the swiftness he normally would, so Kidflash and Miss Martian were only tossed around a little bit.

“Um, Batman?” M’gann asked from the back seat. “What is our assignment?” 

“You’ll see when we get to the Batcave.” Robin answered. Wally and M’gann exchanged a look before falling silent again. The Batmobile arrived in the Batcave a few minutes later. The passengers got out and Miss Martian gazed around in wonder.

“This place is amazing.” She said. 

“What are we doing here?” Wally asked. 

Robin smiled widely at them and then looked over at Batman. “Can I tell her now?” Batman nodded before walking off into the shadows. “Okay, so you know Superman’s Clark Kent, right?” M’gann nodded. “And you saw the news yesterday with Conner about Bruce Wayne, right?” She nodded again. “Well Batman is Bruce Wayne and I’m Dick Grayson and Conner’s upstairs.” Dick removed his mask with a flourish, smiling wildly at her.

“Really?” M’gann asked. 

“Really.” Wally said, walking over to Dick. “So why are we here?”

Bruce came out of the shadows in his civilian clothes and said, “If Miss Martian is going to the ball with Conner and you are going with my son then the two of you would meet at the party and this conversation is not one I want to have in front of witnesses.” He turned his attention to M’gann, who took a step back in fear and shock. Batman’s attention was rarely a good thing. “Won’t you join us for dinner?” He asked her.

“Um, yes?” She said hesitantly. 

“Wonderful. Follow me upstairs.” Bruce guided her to the stairs, leaving Robin and Kidflash alone.

“So that was crazy.” Wally said with a laugh. “It’s still weird seeing Bats be nice to people.” Robin punched him lightly before going off to change into his civilians. When he came back, the first thing Wally did was put his arms around his boyfriend. “I missed you.”

Dick laughed at Wally. “I know. But it’s been one day and we’ve talked twice.”

“Yeah, I know, but I missed you.” Wally leaned down to kiss Dick properly. Dick put his hand on the back of Wally’s neck, pulling him forward and deepening the kiss. They stood there for a while, just holding each other and kissing, till Wally took it a bit farther and slid a hand down to grab Dick’s butt. 

But Dick caught it and pulled away. “You do know that Bruce has cameras all over here, right?” 

In an instant Wally was on the other side of the room. “Why didn’t you tell me that before we started making-out?!” He looked all around him, probably expecting something or someone to jump out and attack him.

“Maybe I missed you too.” Dick started to walk forward towards Wally with open arms.

“Oh no you don’t! I will not be killed down here!” Wally ran up the stairs and out of the Batcave with Dick right behind him, cackling all the way.

When they got to the dinning room they saw Conner and M’gann chatting happily with Clark, while Bruce sat at the table going over some papers. Clark turned when they entered and smiled at them. “Are we ready for dinner?” He asked.

“Yup!” Dick said happily. Alfred began placing plate after plate on the table. They all sat down and started eating. M’gann maintained a happy conversation with Clark, both talking about trivial things. Conner and Dick were contents with silence and eating. Bruce glared at Wally over his food and Wally pretended not to notice. All in all, it went better then Dick could’ve hoped. 

Inevitably the conversation shifted to Valentines Day Ball. M’gann had so many questions it was almost comical, and Bruce could barely answer them all. “I’m sorry.” She said with a shy blush. “But I’m really excited! I’ve never been to a Ball before. We went to our high school’s Halloween dance but that’s not the same. Or is it?”

“No, it’s not.” Clark shook is head. “Believe me, I’d much rather be at a high school’s Halloween dance then another one of these Balls. I’m sorry Bruce, but I’m tired of all those snooty rich people.”

“Same here.” Dick agreed. “They always look at me like I’m some sort of artifact that you import for special occasions.”

“No one if making you go.” Bruce said to them.

“Is it really that bad?” M’gann asked.

“No,” Dick said quickly. “Don’t worry about it. Clark and I are just complaining.”

Clark stood. “It’s getting kind of late. Come on, I’ll take you three home.”

“Actually.” Dick said, standing as well. “Can Wally stay a little longer?”

Everyone turned to look at Bruce. He gave Wally another glare before nodding shortly. They all walked Conner and M’gann to the door. Dick hugged them goodbye with promises of visiting tomorrow, before they left for the Zeta tubes. Dick took Wally’s hand and started to drag him towards his room.

“Hold it.” Bruce said standing in front of the stairs.

“No touching, door open, you’ll come by every 10 minutes.” Dick recited.

“Correct. Continue.” Bruce moved away from the stairs. “Patrol will start at 1800.” He called over his shoulder while walking toward his study. 

Dick and Wally made it to Dick’s room and sat down on the bed. “So,” Wally began, “Valentines Day is next week, huh?”

“Yup,” Dick said. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to get me anything. All I want is for us to go to the ball together.”

“Yeah, me too.” Wally smiled. “If your dad didn’t have his crazy ‘no touching’ rule I would kiss you right now.”

“If I wasn’t 40% sure he has a camera somewhere in here, I’d kiss you too.”

“Seriously?”

“I’m not sure, but it’s a possibility.”

“Dude, I’m sorry, but Bruce is weird.”

“I know,” Dick shrugged and smiled. “But I love him. He’s a good dad.”

“Hey, Dick?”

“Yeah, Wally?”

“You’re cute.” 

“Okay, get over here you.” Dick grabbed the front of his boyfriend’s shirt and pulled Wally in for a kiss.


	5. Big party, Big news

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is not complete

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> +Authors note: I’m sorry I haven’t updated in a while. Okay, a long while. I’m having trouble deciding how this chapter should continue. Maybe suggestions? Anyway, that’s why this is so much shorter than usual, but I thought you would want something after so long. So here you go, again I’m sorry it took so long.

Finding Family chapter five: Big party, big news

A week past, and before anyone knew it it was Valentines Day. Couples were ready to go out to fancy restaurants, get heart shaped candy boxes, big fluffy stuffed animals, and other such romantic practices (cough, cough). At Mount Justice, it was no different. Robin, Wally, Artemis, and Raquel all came to the Mountain that morning to talk with their teammates. Black Canary had suggested that sharing more of their personal lives, i.e. Valentines Day plans, would bond the team. Although the Team suspected that was just her excuse to spend the day with Green Arrow.

Artemis had noticed that over the past week Robin, Wally, Conner, and M’gann were spending more time together. When the Team started talking about their plans for the day, the four of them told their friends about their double date. They didn’t get into details, but M’gann said she was excited to dress up. Artemis loved her friends, and she was happy they were getting along, but the clique they were forming was starting to irk her.

Since Kaldur was from Atlantis and didn’t celebrate Valentine Day, Raqual was taking him out that night to show him what all the fuss was about. They were planning to go out to dinner, mostly to people watch, and observe the ‘culture’ of the romantic holiday. Raqual smirked at Artemis the whole time Kaldur spoke of their plans. ‘He’s being played,’ Artemis thought. 

Then there was Zatanna. Megan went out with her cheer squad a few weeks ago. Zatanna tagged along and met a very nice male cheerleader. They were going out for pizza and a movie for a Valentines Day first date. M’gann went on and on about how they would make such a cute couple and Zatanna would blush and mutter something about getting ahead of herself.

Which left Artemis all alone on Valentines Day. It wasn’t a first, and she didn’t mind, but listening to her friends talking about their special night, Artemis couldn’t help but feel lonely and left out. Green Arrow had offered to take her to this dance that a friend of his was hosting, but she declined. It would just be Ollie flirting with Dinah all night while Artemis and Roy stayed out of their way and tried not to speak to each other or any of the other party guests. 

But now she was considering it. Maybe it would be more fun than she thought. Seeing Roy in a suit would be funny, and maybe she could meet someone her age. Hell, this dance was in Gotham, maybe she would meet up with some of her new friends from Gotham Academy.   
Artemis pulled out her phone and text Green Arrow that she would like to go to the Wayne Foundation’s Valentines Day Ball. ‘It might be interesting,’ she thought.

That night, Artemis Zeta-ed into Star City to meet with Oliver Queen, Dinah Lance, and Roy Harper at the Queen Estate. The first thing to happened was Dinah helping Artemis change clothes. Apparently jeans were not suitable for this event. They came back in ball gowns and went up to Ollie and Roy fidgeting in their tuxes. 

“Well,” Artemis said with a smirk, “don’t you two look handsome.”

“Shut up.” Roy grumbled, glaring at her.

“Be nice, you two.” Olive scolded. “We need to be on our best behavior at Wayne’s party.”

“Why?” Dinah asked. “Mr. Wayne knows how you are when you get drunk. You guys have been friends for years.”

“Well, the thing is,” Ollie rubbed his neck sheepishly, “I may have forgotten to R.S.V.P.”

“Ollie.” Roy shook his head.

“This happen a lot?” Artemis asked him.

“Yes,” Roy told her.

“Not a lot!” Ollie protested.

“Yes.” Dinah sighed. “Can’t you just call Bruce and tell him we’re coming?”

“No!” Oliver said. “That would take away the surprise!” 

“Oh, God, Ollie.” Roy pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head.

“Don’t worry about it!” Oliver Queen put his arm around Dinah Lance and led the small group to the door. “I’m sure it’ll all go smoothly. 

Like Dinah said, Bruce and I are old friends.”

Artemis and Roy shared a look before following him into the car. Within the hour, they were pulling up in front of Wayne Manor and making their way into the Ball Room. 

Artemis looked around, mouth agape. The Ball Room was packed. There were hearts everywhere, on banners, confetti on the floor, heart shaped food. People were in every corner; the dance floor was over flowing. The women had on some of the most boisterous dresses Artemis had ever seen, with such a variety of colors and designs she couldn’t keep track. ‘Rich people’, Artemis thought, ‘always having to one up each other.’ 

Then she caught site of the buffet; Artemis was surprised she hadn’t noticed it before. The table took up an entire wall. The food was all heart shaped, but the kinds differed from plate to plate. ‘Wally would love this,’ Artemis thought. Then, over the heads of black and gray of the older party guests, she saw a red headed teenager and a freckled face. 

“Wally?” She asked aloud.

“What?” Asked Roy, still beside her.

“Is that Wally?” Artemis pointed to the buffet. Roy followed her finger to the teenager stuffing his face.

“Yeah,” Roy said, shocked. “I think it is Wally. What’s he doing here? Isn’t he supposed to be with Robin?”

“Let’s go find out.” Artemis and Roy started making their way over to the table to investigate. It took them a while to navigate the floor, but the red head stayed in the same spot. 

When he reached the table, Roy spun the red head around. “Wally!”

Wally turned around and faced them. “Roy? Artemis? Why are you here?” 

Artemis scoffed. “Why are we here? Why are you here?”

Wally turned pale and looked around for an escape. “Um, well, you see…”

“Artemis!” M’gann came out of nowhere and hugged her friend. Artemis hugged her back and shot Roy a confused looked. “What are you doing here? Did Robin invite you too?”

“Robin invited you?” Roy asked.

“Well, yes.” M’gann said. Wally shook his head furiously at M’gann, but she didn’t take the hint. “Conner’s joining his family and Clark and Bruce thought we should all come to the ball, right Wally?”

“Oh God, Megs, you’re killing me.”

Roy looked between Wally and M’gann. “Megan, you know Bruce Wayne and his husband?”

“And Conner’s joining Robin’s family?” Artemis followed up.

“Um,” M’gann finally looked over to Wally, who shook his head again. “I-I don’t know?”

Artemis and Roy glared at M’gann and Wally. Artemis asked, “Wally, what’s going on?”

“What is going on?” The group turned around to find Bruce Wayne standing behind them. He looked them all over with hard eyes. He sort of glared at Wally, Artemis noticed, before smiling at Roy. “Roy Harper! How are you? I haven’t seen you for months.” Bruce took a step towards Roy and held a hand out for him to shake.

“Hello, Mr. Wayne, it’s good to see you again.” Roy shook his hand firmly, trying to smile.

“I didn’t know you would be coming this year.”

“Yeah, Ollie’s eccentric like that.”

“Right,” Bruce smiled at him darkly before looking over to Artemis again. “Why don’t you go get him now, Roy.” Roy looked back at Artemis before walking off to fetch Oliver and Dinah. As soon as he was gone, Wayne’s hard gaze went to Artemis. “Artemis Crook, right?” He held out his hand again. 

“Yeah, hey.” Artemis shook his hand. Even though he was paying for her to go to Gotham Academy, Artemis had never met Bruce Wayne. She saw him on the news, of course, but meeting him in person was different. On TV, he always seemed like a ditz; in person, Bruce was creepy. He gave off a powerful sensation that made Artemis anxious. 

“How are you enjoying Gotham Academy?” 

“Uh, great, I guess. It’s nice going to school with out the metal detectors and locker searches interrupting the, um, education.” Artemis attempted to laugh, and Wayne smiled back, but it didn’t reach his eyes. 

He looked behind her at M’gann and Wally and said, “Megan, Wally, why don’t you go and retrieve your dates for me.”  
“Yes, sir.” Wally said. He grabbed M’gann and walked away quickly, leaving Artemis alone with Bruce. He still had his fake smile set up and it was really starting to creep Artemis out. His smile was a perfect representation of Gotham City: lying, cold, and aggressive.   
Artemis coughed and broke eye contact. “So, nice party. Sorry Oliver didn’t tell you we were coming.”

“How do you know Ollie?” Bruce asked, smiling never faltering. 

Ollie ran over, followed by Roy and Dinah, and clapped Bruce on the back. “Brucie! Nice party.” Ollie put his arm around Artemis. “Where’s Clark and Dickie? I feel like I haven’t seen them in forever.”

“Here we are!” Dick came over and hugged Ollie. He was followed closing by Conner, Wally, M’gann. “And Roy!” Dick let go of Ollie and gave Roy a hug too. 

“Hey, Dickie.” Roy said, hugging Dick back before pulling away. “Do you know all these people?” Clark had found the group across the room and, deciding to get involved, wondered over to join the group. He came to stand behind Bruce, eying him apprehensively.

Dick looked around him and replied. “Yup.”

“How?” Roy asked, sharing a look with Artemis.

“The same way you do.” 

“Now that we’re all here,” Bruce said with a glare to Dick, “let’s adjourn to the study.”


End file.
